A Touch Of Hopps
by Tyler-Z-Crimson
Summary: Set in an AU, Nick and Judy are detectives in the UK when a spate of copycat murders happen. Can they stop the killer before more mammals are brutally murdered or will history repeat itself and leave them empty pawed?
1. Chapter 1

Nick honked his horn twice when he pulled up outside Judy's house, not that he needed to, you could hear the rumble of his Mustang's engine a mile away. Judy was delighted when she noticed he was in that car. She absolutely loved it, it's gunmetal grey paintwork shining even in the cold spring rain. She came out of her house holding her bag over her head trying to keep as much water off her as possible while she locked the door double checking the handle just-in-case. Nick's eyes widened, his tail trying to wag between him and the car seat.

"I've never seen this dress before," He said. Barely managing to keep his tongue in as she slid into the car.

"It's new," Judy said. flattening the sides of the sparkling, red sequin dress that tightly hugged her figure from the single shoulder strap to its end dangerously high on her thigh with a thick black belt around her middle.

"Glad you like it" Judy beamed a smile at him as she said it.

"That obvious eh?" Nick said as he threw the car into first gear revving the engine before setting off.

* * *

"What about my latest purchase?" Nick asked as they pulled into the pub car park, looking down at himself when Judy looked over at him. He was wearing a dark blue blazer over a tight white shirt, not tight like a button might ping off but tight where it looked like he had been sculpted from marble. The outline of every muscle on his body was exaggerated by the crisp white fabric.

"Glad you like it," he said. Mocking what she had said to him earlier. She could feel the burn of embarrassment in her ears when she realised that she was still gawking at him and biting her bottom lip. Nick cut the engine and started to get out of the car. Judy hadn't stopped looking at him while he parked it, taking in his abs through the shirt as he looked behind him when he backed into the parking space.

"Take a picture if you want carrots, it'll last longer," Nick said as he closed the door. Judy almost leapt out of the passenger side when Nick's voice brought her back to reality with her ears burning red.

"I'm banning you from wearing that shirt Nick," she said mock seriously.

"But look what it does to the ladies," he said winking at her as they entered the old English pub. The oak beams holding the ceiling up made it feel warm and cosy, a vast contrast to the now almost stormy evening outside. Nick took his blazer off and put it over his shoulder hooking one claw under the collar of it to hold it there. Judy looked up at him almost slipping back into her daydream about him when she saw his arms bulging out of the tight sleeves, that was at least until she heard Dave.

"Nick, Judy, over here!" he called from his bar stool beside Ben.

Dave had moved to the CID when Nick had asked Judy to consider him for the Detective Constable position that had opened up when Nick took Judy's Place as Detective Sergeant and Judy moved up to replace the old Detective Inspector.

Dave McFang had joined the police at the same time as Nick and they were Just about best friends within days.

"Oh Em Goodness, Judy you look amazing," Ben squeaked. She waved the compliment off, smiling as she and Nick walked towards their colleagues.

"I'd eat you up," Dave said as they arrived at the bar. Nick flicked him on the end of his nose then turned to Judy.

"There'll be nothing left once I'm finished with her." His eyes narrowing as he said it passion burning behind them, He let out a soft growl adding even more heat to the statement. Judy went weak at the knees as she always did when he growled like that. He normally reserved it for when they were alone, they hadn't exactly been open about their relationship, not knowing how mammals would react to a fox and bunny being together and they had only been seeing each other for 2 weeks. Judy doubted even Dave knew they were together. The fact that Nick was starting to show his feelings in public only made her love him more, even if she hadn't plucked up the courage to tell him that yet. She caught sight of the faces Ben and Dave were making. Smiling to herself at their confusion.

"Can I get you a drink Carrots?" Nick asked.

"Vodka and carrotade please," she said as she hopped onto the bar stool Nick was about to sit on, batting his face with her ears.

"Carrots!" Nick said. Laughing as he quickly but gently tied her ears together.

"Hey!" she giggled batting at the knot on her head whilst Nick got their drinks.

Nick winked as he slid the drink to her, turning to follow the other two to a table.  
She hadn't even noticed the bartender asking her for £5.60, she was lost in the sight of her fox again.  
"Huh, Oh Right," she said as the beaver behind the bar cleared his throat, his paw open over the bar. She dropped a £5 note and a £2 coin into the open paw

"Keep the change. That dumb fox will be getting the rest." She said jokingly but loud enough for Nick to hear her. He simply shrugged his shoulders and put his most innocent face on. But she wasn't having any of it she Just sat next to him saying "I'm not joking Wilde."

Dave piped up with "ohhh… Last name… Deep shit"

"Don't you start David McFang," she said raising an eyebrow and pointing at him.

"Ohhh… Full Name… Deep shit" Nick just about managed to say over everyone's laughter.

"You two going somewhere nice?" Ben said downing the dregs of his cheetah sized pint. It was no secret that the two of them were great friends and they would often go for meals or to the movies together, so nobody batted an eyelid when Nick said, "I thought I'd take our DI to that tapas place in town?" looking questioningly into Judy's eyes.

"You mean flavour!" Judy shouted. Her paws covered her mouth when she realised that she had actually shouted it.  
"Oh Nick that's my favourite," she said nuzzling into him and taking a deep sniff of his scent. Nick very rarely wore any aftershave or scent mask so it was just his musky, foxy scent. He smelt so strong and masculine, but it made her feel safe, she loved it.

"I'll have less of that" DCI Bogo said in his booming voice. Judy sat back in her seat wondering how such a big mammal had managed to sneak into the pub unnoticed.

"You've both put a very dangerous mammal away there, well done." Almost smiling when he said it.

"We couldn't have done it without Ben's research and Dave's giant nose," Judy said, making everybody laugh again. "What's this I hear about a date?" Bogo said raising his eyebrow at Nick.

"I wouldn't say a date sir. Just 2 old friends going for dinner." He said as he ruffled the fur between Judy's ears. However much he wanted to tell the world about their new relationship he couldn't, not yet, not until he knew that nothing could tear them apart.


	2. Chapter 2

Judy Picked up her heated paw wipe and slid off the ribbon that was tied around it. She wiped her mouth and paws, watching Nick copy her.

"That was the best meal I've had in… forever," Judy said. She leaned back into her chair and tossed her paw wipe onto the neatly stacked pile of empty tapas plates on their candle lit table for two. The restaurant's decor tried to hard to be Spanish and looked strangely Indian but it was still a nice place.

"Thanks Nick," She said, leaning forward taking his paw in hers.

"Anytime fluff." He replied a faint smile coming to his face as he leaned in to kiss her over the table. Judy leaned in to close the gap between them, his nose touching hers just as Judy heard a gasp and a fork hit the ground. Nick was too caught up in his bunny to notice but Judy did. '_Just you wait'._ She thought to herself.Judy spotted the snobby looking deer out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed nick's collar and pulled him closer deepening the kiss. Half because she had never wanted anything more than to kiss him right now and half because she wanted to get the best reaction out of that deer as possible.

The deer scoffed "look at these two, that's disgusting." The group of friends with her all turning to look at Nick and Judy as she ended the kiss getting her breath back as she pulled away. Nick was left in a high, She had never given him more than a peck in public and wouldn't have if that deer hadn't reacted like she did.

"Can I help you?" Judy barked to the mammals staring at her and her fox. Nick's ears spiked and his tail puffed when he heard the tone in Judy's voice, Anger flared in his emerald green eyes when he realised what was happening. The deer that started it all piping up "A bunny and a fox, Are you mad! You should be ashamed." She said before opening her mouth to start again, but Nick cut her off. He quickly got to his feet his hackles up and his tail straight out behind him.

"There is only one mammal in here who should be ashamed." he snarled, staring at the deer with his teeth slightly bared. "And if I hear one more comment like that the mammal saying it will be on the receiving end of a hate crime sentence!" he spat out still staring at the deer.

"And who's going to believe…" the deer started.

"Detective Sergeant Nicholas Wilde and Detective Inspector Judy Hopps?" Judy said finishing the sentence for the deer.

"You expect me to believe a shady fox and a stupid rabbit are detectives… please." The deer said. Her friends chuckled to themselves at the thought of it. Judy could hardly contain her excitement as her eyes met nicks. "I believe that's speciesism officer Wilde, would you agree?" Judy said smugly

"I believe it is ma'am" Nick said as they both looked back at the deer. It was almost like they had rehearsed the routine. '_This is perfect we've got her now', _Judy thought as Nick pulled his warrant card out of his blazer, flashing it at the deer.

"Anything else you'd like to say?" Judy asked. The deer's face dropped and her ears went flat to the back of her head

"No? don't be shy I'm only a… stupid rabbit? was it?" Judy added as the restaurant manager walked over.

"What appears to be the problem." The restaurant manager said, nobody had noticed him approaching. But leopards are naturally quiet.

"I'm sorry, we are just trying to enjoy our meal but these ladies seem to think that because I'm a fox and Judy is a rabbit we shouldn't be allowed to do that." Nick said with a little sarcasm in his voice.

"I do apologise Mr Wilde. I'll take this from here." The manager said with a knowing look to both Nick and Judy. The leopard walked over to the deer's table and said something to her. Judy couldn't quite tell what, but she knew it would be good when she saw nick's smug face. He had sat back down now and was leaning his elbow on the table with his cheek resting on his paw. Judy wondered why the manager had taken their side straight away, either he had seen it all unfold or Nick knew him somehow.

"We haven't even eaten yet!" the deer shouted at the leopard "not that I could hold it down after seeing that." She added as the manager put his arm out gesturing her to the door. The deer huffed as she stood. "Come on girls we don't need this weirdness," she said as she stormed out, the rest of her gang following her.

The manager squeezing Nick's shoulder as he walked past their table silently.

"Cheers Steve." Nick said giving the leopard a thankful nod before turning his attention back to Judy.

"Would you like another drink or should we make tracks?" Nick asked spinning a piece of ice around his empty glass with one claw.

"One more won't do any harm." Judy said smiling at him. Nick went to stand but Judy needed to know how he knew the manager. "How do you know the manager then?"

"I'll be right back" He said brushing off the question. He went to kiss her again but stopped just short, his breath brushed her lips and Judy sighed at the intense feeling it gave her. She wanted to rip his tight white shirt off and bury herself in his fur right there, but he had gone to the bar for the drinks.

* * *

The drunken pair stumbled out of the restaurant arms around each other laughing uncontrollably as they almost fell over

"I guess that one drink did do some harm eh Carrots." Nick slurred as Judy stumbled catching herself on the wall.

"That one drink had nothing to do with this." Judy Said with a single drunken finger pointed to the sky. "It was the other 8 that did this."

"Nick" She said softly as she pulled herself off the wall looking up at him. He turned and looked down at her. His deep green eyes almost put Judy into a trance but she managed to resist them.

"Thank you" She said grabbing his paw and pulling it close to her. "I've had a brilliant night."

Nick lowered himself to one knee so that he was at her level. He put one paw around her waist and gently stroked from the top of her head to the top of her neck flattening her ears to her back. "Anytime sweetheart." He said lovingly before rubbing his snout on hers. "Now lets get you home"

"I only live around the corner, you should get in one of the taxis here" she said. Silently begging him not to get in the taxi.

"What kind of mammal lets his girl walk home alone at this hour." Nick said with a smile. Judy's face lit up as he said it.

"Come on, I need to get this shirt off." Nick added as he set off walking. Judy's mind went wild at the thought of him tensing up, his red fur shifting with the muscles underneath.


	3. Chapter 3

Judy was shocked awake by the sound of her phone ringing on the bedside table. She couldn't remember much that had happened after leaving the restaurant, but judging by the scent she had on her and the state of Nick's fur beside her it had been eventful. She picked up the phone and looked at the screen "Ugh" she sighed, it was DCI Bogo.

"Sir" Judy said groggily when she answered the phone.

"Hopps. Sorry to wake you but I need you to come down to the riverbank, by the footbridge, behind the shopping centre. And for god's sake bring Wilde I can't get hold of him I've been phoning his house all morning" Bogo said, his irritation clear in his tone.

"That fox could sleep through a hurricane" Judy said as she ran her paw through his white chest fur zoning out for a minute

"Hopps!" Bogo shouted down the phone, making Judy jump.

"sorry sir I'll be as quick as I can" She said. Judy quickly hung up the phone and dropped it on the bed beside her.

Nick yawned as she hung up,letting out the cutest squeak she had ever heard. He rolled over and his head landed in her lap. Judy gently stroked his cheek with her paw, hoping that he was awake. Judy said Nick's name quietly, but he was still asleep.

"Come on slick, get up" She kissed his forehead. His eyes fluttered open and he slowly lifted onto all fours, stretching the sleep out of himself with his paws out in front of him and his bum in the air.

"Whats up Carrots?" Nick asked mid-stretch.

"It's Bogo, he needs us." Judy replied.

"Ugh," Nick sighed. "what time is it?"

"4:30" Judy said. Nick Slumped down beside her and huffed.

"I'm still drunk," Nick announced, running his paw over his head to flatten his fur, but not before his nose started to twitch.  
"Smells like somebody had fun in here." He said with the biggest, stupidest grin on his face that Judy had ever seen.

"Oh yeah? I wonder who that could have been?" she said running her paw down the line in the middle of his abs

"AHH!" Judy yelped as Nick swung himself over her, his rusty red fur all ruffled especially on his back. Nick growled softly in her ear causing her full body to shiver.

"Oh Nick" She said quietly, grabbing at the ruffled fur on his back "We don't have time." She groaned as she pushed him off and giggled at his face when he tried to work out how he had ended up on his back with her sitting on top of him playing with his chest fur.

"I am one lucky bunny." Judy chirped happily.

"You sure are Carrots." Nick leaned up to kiss her. Judy almost leaned in to kiss back but she realised his plan was working.

"Come on, Up." She said as she hopped off him and sauntered towards the bathroom.

* * *

It was still pitch-black when Judy pulled up into the shopping centre car-park with a very hungover Nick flat out in the passenger seat of her unmarked jaguar, but at least the rain had stopped. Judy had her usual work uniform on, black trousers with a blue blouse and a grey suit jacket. Nick had had to wear the same clothes he had on last night because Judy wouldn't let him go home to get changed no matter how much he had protested, saying that Dave would be able to smell what had happened last night if she didn't let him get a shower and some clean clothes. Judy wouldn't listen, just saying that if he did they would have to talk themselves out of it.

Judy slammed her door shut almost making Nick jump clean out of his fur. He groaned and slowly climbed out of the car his head still banging from his hangover.

"What happened to you? Looks like you had a good night." Dave shouted from the footpath that ran between the car park and the river.

"Went a bit hard on the sauce last night." Nick said, putting his paw to his temple trying to stop the shooting pain when he talked.

"He Just can't keep up anymore Dave. I think his old age is slowing him down" Judy said as she skipped past Dave. His nose flicking as she went past. Dave's jaw sprung open and he looked at Nick in surprise, both paws pointing to Judy. Nick shot him a look that could kill a smaller mammal. "not here." Nick said as he closed Dave's mouth with his paw "I'll explain later."

Nick dragged himself over to Judy and Bogo.  
"what's the situation?" he said as he stepped up beside them.

"We've got a dead mammal, a lynx, female, early 30's, the doctor will explain more when you get in there." Bogo's tone was flat when he said it. He had seen his fair share of bodies and it took a lot to shock him.

"Do we know who she is?" Judy asked

"Her name's Jasmine Blackpaw, one of the PCSO's found her on her patrol at about 2." Bogo said still with his flat tone.

"Where's The PCSO?" Nick asked.

"She's with Clawhouser. He will get her statement I want you two in that tent."

"Ok sir" Nick and Judy said in stereo

"Why can't people have the respect to get killed at a decent time of day." Nick joked as he pulled on the protective suit. Judy didn't even respond to him, instead she huffed at her suit.

"I hate it when they don't have ear holes" She said in annoyance, fighting to get her huge ears into the hood.

"Here" Nick said, brushing her ears flat and pulling her hood up.

"Thanks" Judy said with a smile and a little glint in her eye.

Once they had both put all the protective clothing on, they entered the crime scene tent. Nick held the flap open for Judy to enter first.

"Dr Otterton, we have to stop meeting like this" Nick said when he followed Judy inside

"I don't know, it just wouldn't be the same without a body between us." Dr Otterton replied; A dead mammal wasn't enough to stop the banter. She was wearing her protective clothing kneeling beside the lynx on the floor. The lynx was lying on the ground her skirt pushed up on one side, severe bruising to her left side and a red slit to her throat that looked like a river of blood. Considering how bad the cut was, there wasn't much blood on the ground. Just a small pool around her head and neck.

"Poor girl, what happened to her?" Judy said as she knelt beside the victim opposite Dr Otterton

Dr Otterton gestured to the injuries on the Lynx's body as she explained the victim's injuries. "She has a large bruise on her left side, either caused by a blunt weapon or a strong mammal. There are two cuts to her throat."

"Two cuts?" Nick asked puzzled

"yes, if you look closely there is a small incision to the left side, here, and then the second cut, more decisive from left to right, its deep almost to the vertebrae. But I don't think that's what killed her, I think she was strangled first."

Nick and Judy looked at each other with blank expressions on both their faces.

"Why do this then?" Judy asked the doctor, pointing at the cuts on the mammal's neck.

"I don't know but there is bruising and scratch marks under her fur around her neck. The cut happened after death." Dr Otterton insisted.

"Is that why there isn't much blood?" Nick asked.

"Oh, there's plenty blood, it's all just soaked into her clothes. I know what you're thinking, but she wasn't moved… she died here." The doctor said.

"Thanks doc." Judy said as she got up to leave. Nick held the flap for her again.

"I want a full sweep of the area done and find any other witnesses or CCTV." Judy ordered when she came out.

"Way ahead of you ma'am." Dave called as he finished setting up the cordon around the area.

"Sophia is inside getting the CCTV and me and Ben are sweeping the area once he gets back, he's taken The PCSO to get checked over. She was in a bad way." Dave said as he turned to walk past them to where the CSI van was. He patted Nick on the shoulder on his way past "You two go and freshen up." His grin was almost splitting his face.


	4. Chapter 4

After driving Nick home to shower and change into his usual work suit, Grey suit pants and a shirt and tie, Judy pulled into the police station car-park and the pair headed up to the incident room.

The Incident room was an open office with 6 desks facing a smaller office with glass walls at one end. This was Bogo's office. The desks were set out up the sides of the room leaving a walkway down the middle. A white board along the left side of the room already had the crime scene photos pinned up and all the important facts for the case written down.

Nick and Judy were both shocked to see Clawhouser sat alone at his desk when they walked inot the incident room. He was looking up a mammal that had a file a mile long.

"Who's this?" Nick asked as he pulled up a chair. Judy Just hopped up and sat on the edge of the desk.

"This is Jasmine's husband." Clawhouser said with a tear in his eye. He scrolled to the top of the file showing them the lynx's mug shot. His name was Richard Blackpaw he had a very distinctive look, A scar just below his eye and only one of his ears had the distinctive tuft at the top. The other looked like it had had the tip bitten off.

"Are you ok Ben?" Judy asked noticing he was a bit upset.

"I'm ok. I just knew we'd find her like this one day."

Nick and Judy looked at each other confused.

"before I transferred here… when I was in uniform. We got called out to their address at least once a month. he used to beat her like a bug burger." Clawhouser continued clearing the confusion.

"We need to bring him in." Nick growled. "How could you do that to your own wife?" Nick didn't even bother to try and hide his anger, there was no point.

"Let's go get him then." Judy said as she hopped off the desk.

"What's that address ben?" she asked as she walked away with Nick jogging after her.

"42 Newlands Place skip" Clawhouser shouted over his shoulder, and just in time because the door swung shut when he turned around.

* * *

"Call back DC McFang" Judy said into the car radio as she hit the lights and put her foot to the floor, wheel spinning out of the station car park.

"Go ahead skip" Dave said. Nick hated it that Judy still got called skip. The sergeant should be skip, but Judy had hung onto the nickname when she got her promotion.

"We've got a lead. Meet us at 42 Newlands Place. And don't go in until we get there." Judy said, emphasising not to go in. Dave was well known for charging in head on, in fact he was as bad if not worse than Judy for it.

"I'm not far away. see you there" Dave replied. His voice was all crackly over the radio but still clear enough to understand.

* * *

Newlands Place was a long road that stretched from the centre of town almost to the river where Jasmine was found. It wasn't a bad area, but it was nothing special. When Judy Pulled up opposite the house Dave was already there. his car was sat empty outside the terraced house with the driver's door open towards the curb.

"Where's that bloody wolf?" Nick barked as he shot out of the car with Judy close behind him. She was just about to call Dave on the radio when she spotted him crouched behind a bush.

"What did I tell you McFang" Judy said, raising her eyebrows at the wolf.

"I… He… I don't think he's home." Dave stuttered. Judy was less than half his size, but he knew almost as well as Nick did not to piss her off.

"Well why are you hiding behind a bush then? Or are you trying to look as suspicious as possible?" Judy asked rhetorically before she walked up the old concrete path to the front door of the property and knocked on the door, "Police, open up." She shouted.

Nick peered through the bay window at the front of the house looking for any sign that somebody was in.

"It looks empty" he said, his nose pressed against the window when an elderly lynx female opened the door and stuck her head out. Nick Jumped back from the window his heart racing from the shock.

"I'm Detective Inspector Judy Hopps, this Is Detective Sergeant Nicholas Wilde and Detective Constable David McFang. Is Richard Blackpaw here?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not. Come on in." the old lynx said before turning and walking into the living room. The room was small for a family of lynxes. the furniture was old and the place needed redecorating, but it was homely enough.

"Sit down" the old lynx said gesturing to the sofa.

"Thank you" Judy said as she sat down on the brown faux leather sofa, Dave sat beside her while Nick stood in the doorway between the hall and the living room. He always felt uneasy in a suspect's house especially if he hadn't had a sweep of all of the rooms.

"I'm his mother. I haven't seen him since last night, he went out at about 9." the lynx continued. Judy pulled out her note pad "Could you tell us where he went?"

"I'm sorry no, he was awfully wound up though. He and jasmine had a row last night and she walked out to go to her mothers." Judy looked at Nick and nodded. Nick stepped out of the room and got his radio out.

"Clawhouser call back." He said.

The radio crackled before Ben's voice came through with a hint of static. "Hey Nick, any luck?"

"No, he isn't here. I want you to put a call out to uniform, tell them if they see him to bring him in. and get someone to watch the house." Nick ordered.

"Ok Nick. I'm on it. He works at the fish market on Charleston Square you should try there." Ben replied. Nick could hear him tapping on his keyboard through the radio.

"Thanks Ben we'll check it out."

Back in the living room Judy had broken the news of jasmines death to the old lynx,

"I know they didn't have the best relationship, but he loved her. He could never kill her." The lynx managed through her tears.

"Ok miss Blackpaw. If you want to tell us anything else no matter how small or insignificant you think it might be call me." Judy said handing the mammal her card

"Thanks for your time." Dave said as they both stood up to leave "We will show ourselves out."

Nick was leaning on the wall outside the front door with his sunglasses on staring off into space when they came out.

"Anything useful?" Nick asked.

"Not a thing." Judy said, flipping her notepad shut and tucking it away.

"Clawhouser said he works at the fish market. we should check there." Nick offered.

"let's go then. He did it, I can feel it." Judy said as she walked down the path to their car quietly seething at the thought of what Richard had put jasmine through.


	5. Chapter 5

The Fish Market was a huge old building in the middle of town, it was like a warehouse with a large open shop floor filled with market stalls, vans and a square of permanent shops in the middle. The roof was held up with decorative iron pillars and beams. The smells from the market were driving Nick insane, raw fish mixed with the smell of herbs, spices and the unmistakable smell of his favourite food, smoked mackerel. Judy flipped her badge open as they walked up to the display counter at the front of the shop. "Police, could we have a word?"

The brown bear behind the counter was slightly taken aback by her sudden appearance.  
"Erm sure, how can I help."

"Were looking for Richard Blackpaw. Is he here?" Nick asked

The bear sighed, "He hasn't come in this morning and he isn't answering his phone. Has he been at Jasmine again?"

"Yeah he has." Nick said with a touch of sadness. The bear hung his head "she alright?"

"She's dead" Judy said, her ears had flopped back at the thought of the dead lynx

"Poor girl" The bear said shaking his head

Judy's phone rang, and she fumbled to get it out of her pocket. "It's Bogo." She said to Nick.

"Hopps, Dr Otterton wants somebody at the morgue can you two head over there."

"Yes sir, we will head over now." Judy said, not knowing if she wanted to know what was waiting for them or not. She hung up the phone and shoved it into her trouser pocket, before turning back to Nick. "Dr Otterton wants to show us something at the morgue."

"That can't be good." Nick sighed his tail flopping to the ground. "Ok let's go."

Nick handed his card to the bear. "If Richard turns up or you want to tell us anything give me a call."

"Don't worry I'll call as soon as I see him… if he even comes here."

* * *

The Morgue was in the basement of the hospital with fluorescent lights illuminating the windowless room. The examination room was behind glass screens with a double door in the middle. When Nick and Judy walked in Dr Otterton was busy examining the Lynx who was laid on the metal table, her clothes had been cut off and she was covered with a white sheet up to her chest. Nick and Judy just stood in silence and waited, watching the Doctor as she photographed Jasmines paws and the wounds that she had described at the scene.

When she was finished Dr Otterton waved Nick and Judy into the room. "I wasn't expecting this." She said as the door closed.

"Expecting what?" Judy asked nervously.

"Welcome to hell." Dr Otterton said as she lifted the sheet off Jasmines body. It took a lot to shock the two experienced detectives, but Judy gasped and her ears flopped to her back, she covered her eyes with her paws and snuggled into Nicks side his paw instinctively wrapping around her head. Nicks Jaw had swung open at the sight of what was under the sheet. He was speechless and just looked at Dr Otterton waiting for an explanation.

"I've never seen anything like it" She said shaking her head when she looked at the wounds again. "It looks like somebody tried to gut her." She added. The Lynx had four stab wounds up the right side of her stomach and a long jagged slit up her left side. Dr Otterton had shaved the fur around the wounds so that she could examine them properly, but it only made them look even more horrific

"This explains why her clothes were so bloody." Judy said as she tried to compose herself.

"Yes, her clothes must have been pulled out of the way for the killer to do it. Or we would have found the injuries at the scene."

"Was she…" Judy spoke but the last words wouldn't come out, Her stomach felt like it had tied itself in knots when she thought of the suffering Jasmine would have went through if she was still alive when this had happened to her.

"No thank god." Dr Otterton said as if she had read Judy's mind. "She was already dead when this happened to her." Judy let out a sigh of relief.

Dr Otterton walked around the table to the head of the Lynx and stood by the right side of her head. "I think the killer must have knelt at the victim's head on the right side and slit her throat from left to right. Then he stabbed the knife into her abdomen on the left side and dragged the knife up towards himself violently. Before stabbing at her right-paw side 4 times."

"What kind of knife was used?" Nick asked, the anger clear in his eyes and his tail stiff.

"I couldn't say apart from it had a strong blade"

"long? Like something you would use to gut fish?" Nick asked quickly, his whole body now as stiff as a board. Judy was looking up at him, her mouth slightly open with a concerned almost scared expression, he didn't normally let cases get to him but this time he looked like he was about to snap.

"I couldn't rule it out." Dr Otterton said gently shrugging her shoulders.

"Thanks doc" Nick said before turning and storming out of the room.

Judy mouthed a thank-you to the doctor and followed Nick out.

"Nick wait… Calm down… We will catch him." She shouted after him as he stormed up the stairs out of the morgue, Judy almost had to run to keep up with him. Nick stopped when he got to the top of the stairs his whole body relaxing when he sighed. "I'm sorry Judes… I Just can't stand the thought of such a monster roaming the streets." Judy hugged him when she got to the top of the steps. "I know" she said. "He won't be free for long, almost every officer is out looking for him."

* * *

Nick was running up the stairwell that lead out of the back of the police station reception up to the incident room on the 2nd floor when Judy burst out onto the 1st floor landing. "They've got him, we caught him." She squeaked as she threw herself around him. "Nick, they got him." Her smile almost splitting her face.

"Richard?" He asked as he steadied himself trying not to fall back down the stairs.

"He turned up at home smelling like a pub and looking like shit" Dave said as he sauntered out through the same door Judy had burst out of.

"He went home?" Nick was genuinely puzzled. he wasn't expecting Richard to risk going home. 'Did he not know that the police would be waiting there for him?' Nick thought to himself.

"Get him in that interview room, right now" Nick hissed, his anger was back.

"I'm doing this one" Bogo said leaning over the banister on the next floor up. "I want you and Dave to watch from the observation room. Judy you're with me."

"But Sir." Nick protested, He hated sitting in the observation room he always felt like the criminals could see him just sitting there, especially when they had been interviewed before and knew that somebody was behind that mirror.

"No Wilde, I know your one of the best interrogators we have but this mammal is manipulative, and he knows how to push mammal's buttons. You're not in the right frame of mind for this just now."

"OK, OK" Nick agreed. He wanted to interview Richard, but he knew that he could snap at any point and nobody needed that.

Bogo and Judy walked into the interview room, Richard and his solicitor were already sat on the back side of the table. Nick walked into the observation room with two cups of coffee. "Here, don't choke." Nick said sarcastically as he passed Dave his cup and sat in the spare chair looking through the one-way mirror into the Interview room.

"So, Judy smelt good this morning, care to explain yourself?" Dave said taking a sip off the coffee.

"There's Nothing to explain Dave, we had a few drinks after our meal and I ended up back at her place. She only lives round the corner from the restaurant."

"And did you… you know?" Dave asked waving his paw in a small circle as if to drag an answer out of Nick. Nick felt his ears start to burn with embarrassment.

"Did I what?"

"Oh come on Slick, I've know you long enough to know when you've been laid. And besides I could smell you all over her this morning."

Nick felt himself turn bright red, If it wasn't for his fur he would be shining like a beacon. He Ignored Dave as best as he could. A few moments past before Dave piped up again.

"So was it just a one-time thing or are you two a little more than 'Just old friends'." Dave said quoting what Nick had said in the pub the night before. Dave's tail was wagging now, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

"It's the first time." Nick said, he didn't bother to look round at Dave, he just kept on staring into the interview room watching Judy and Bogo set up for the Interview.

"The first time eh. So, there'll be a second?" Dave asked. Nick could tell by his tone that he was trying to get a reaction out of him, but he wouldn't let that happen, he wouldn't give Dave the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to him.

"We'll see where things go." Nick said bobbing his head.

"How long have you kept me in the dark then?"

"We've been seeing each other for about 2 weeks, but it's never gone this far" Nick replied still staring into the interview room

"You've kept your best friend in the dark for 2 weeks, Nick Wilde I'm hurt." Dave said jokingly putting his paw on his heart and dropping his head. Nick Just turned and threw a pen at the wolf. "Seriously though Dave, not a word to anyone… Especially Ben!"

"You can't expect me to keep such a thing from my partner now can you."

"Please Dave, I'll let it out when were ready I don't even know if she feels the same way about me as I do about her." Nick fought to hold back a tear as he said it, He didn't think he could take another rejection especially from Judy, the one mammal he felt he could trust and that understood him. Dave patted him on the back. "Hey Slick" he said, "If that's how you feel then you gotta tell her, and I won't say a word to anyone until you're ready."

Nick smiled at Dave "Thanks man" he said before Judy clicked the tape recorder on and started the interview.

"This interview is being recorded and is being conducted at Zoodale police station on the 8th of April 2018, the time is 13:48. Police officers present are Detective Inspector Hopps." Judy stopped and looked towards Bogo prompting him to say his name

"Detective Chief Inspector Bogo."

"Solicitor present is" Judy continued looking from Bogo to the solicitor

"William Hart"

"Please state your full name and date of birth" Judy asked Richard

"Richard Blackpaw, 13th June 1973" Richard said as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention something which you later rely on in court. Do you understand?" Judy never got tired of reading that to people, it was just a small part of the job that never got old for her.

"Yeah I understand." Richard said looking around the room.

Nick fidgeted in his seat in the observation room. "He doesn't even look bothered by this at all" He said to Dave.

"He's sat behind that table plenty times before." Dave said before Judy started questioning Richard.

"Where were you last night between 9pm and 2am" She said.

Richard glanced at his solicitor smiling before he turned back to Judy and cocked his head.

"Cell 4, Workingpaw police station… I've got a copper for an alibi." Richard said smugly, Judy wanted to kick the smile of his face as he sniggered to himself and started biting his claws.

"Fuck!" Nick shouted slamming his chair back into the wall as he stood up, He slammed open the door of the observation room. "get that alibi checked out!" he shouted back to Dave as he stormed out. Once he was outside, he leaned back on the wall put his head back whilst he waited for Judy to come out of the interview room.

Judy came out of the Interview room leaving Bogo to finish up with the formalities for the tape. Nick was surprised at how calm she was. Normally, if a mammal had pulled a stunt like that she would fly out of the room like a tornado, however that image of calm was shattered when she spoke.

"That Bastard." She said to Nick, she Just paced around in the corridor seething, her tail twitching and her ears pricked upright.

"He Knew exactly what he was doing, He doesn't even care that his wife's dead! All he can do is snigger at getting one over on us."

Nick had calmed down by a little by this point, seeing Judy so upset had refocused him.

"Don't worry about him carrots we need to focus on catching who actually did this." Nick held his left arm out to Judy and she came in hugging him for a moment. "Come on then." She said as she let go of him and they walked towards the incident room.


	6. Chapter 6

Nick walked into the incident room to Clawhouser hanging up the phone. Ben turned and glanced at Nick, turning back to his computer Ben gave Nick the bad news. "His alibi checks out they were checking in on him every half hour all night"

"Thanks Ben, how's the PCSO doing? Has she given a statement yet?" Nick asked as he flopped down into his chair spun it around.

"Sophia is with her now. She's bringing the CCTV in in the morning too." Ben logged into his computer and sat back in his chair waiting for it to log on.

Bogo came into the room with Judy tagging along behind him. "Right listen up." Bogo said as he walked down the middle of the desks. Nick stopped his chair spinning and watched, but he was still laid back like he didn't care, whilst Clawhouser sat upright and put his paws in his lap with a stupid smile on his face waiting to hear what Bogo had to say.

"Richard Blackpaw has been released without charge... I want him forgotten about. think of this as a new investigation." Bogo paced around before continuing "Now, I'm having to leave town for a while, the commander is holding a conference in London and I can't get out of it. Report to Hopps while I'm away." He said before disappearing as quickly as he had come in.

Nick raised his eyebrows and looked at Judy. She was just stood there speechless, she had been left in charge before, but she had had time to prepare and Bogo had sat with her and gone through app of the open cases to make sure she knew all the details about whatever case they were on, but this time he had sprung it on her out of nowhere. Dave came in at this point and looked around at the 3 mammals all with their tails dropped and ears flat. "Somebody die in here?" he asked before sauntering over to his seat, his tail swaying side to side behind him as he walked.

"Bogo has just pulled a fast one on Judes, she's in charge for a while." Ben said turning his chair to face Dave.

Dave looked up at the clock. "In that case I'm off to the pub." Judy glanced at the clock not taking in the time but it had been a long day, so she decided to let them all go. "Get yourselves away I'll catch up, I want to have a look over things first." She said before plodding over to her desk and pulling the case file out of her drawer with a sigh.

Ben and Dave stood up and walked out of the room laughing and joking with each other as the door swung shut after them. Judy had her head buried in the case file when she heard Nick behind her. "Hey Carrots?" He sounded a bit shy which was unusual for him.

"Yeah" she said looking over her shoulder at him.

"I was thinking… I don't fancy going to the pub tonight and I've got some fresh vegetables in to make a curry with. Plus, that box-set you got me at Christmas wont watch itself. So, I was wondering if you… erm… wanted to… you know?"

Judy had closed the case file and spun her chair to face him now, her eyes wide and her mouth turned up into a slight smile. "That sounds perfect" She stood up and walked over to him, she placed her paw on the side of his muzzle and kissed his nose. Nicks heart melted slightly at the touch of her soft paw and the tenderness of the kiss. Judy held her paw on his face for a moment and got lost in his deep green eyes, the closeness of the moment giving her butterflies "Come on slick I'm hungry" she said breaking the moment before somebody caught them, but not ruining the atmosphere between them.

Nick grabbed his coat and they both left the incident room in a comfortable silence.

* * *

The next morning, in the incident room Nick and Judy were a good half hour early. Nick was sat at his desk with Judy perched on the desk in front of him, just where his keyboard should have been. Her legs were crossed and dangled off the desk, she was leaning back slightly, supporting herself with her arms behind her. They Just sat there talking and laughing with each other, killing the time until somebody came in. Judy wished that it wouldn't end, she found herself staring into Nicks eyes again and quickly became lost in the sea of green, not noticing that he was staring back and that they had fell silent. 'I could get lost in those eyes forever' She thought to herself snapping back to reality when she heard Nick say something. She didn't know what he had said she was too busy daydreaming about him to listen, but he must have been mocking her or making some sly comment because he grabbed her and nibbled under her chin tickling her neck with his teeth.

"Nick!" she squeaked through her laughter "Stop it!" but he didn't stop, she fell back onto the desk and he just pinned her there and kept tickling her with his teeth and his hot breath. She entered that stage of laughter where you can't breath and no sound comes out. Nick got a little carried away and nipped a bit to hard catching her skin between his teeth, not hard enough to draw blood but enough to take her by surprise. Her foot shot out instinctively, kicking him in the ribs. She gasped and her paws shot to cover her mouth "Nick, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to." The horror clear in her voice, how could she have just kicked him she would never hurt him, but all that shock and horror went away when he gently nuzzled her neck and licked the spot he had bitten. The sensation of his tongue combing through her soft fur sent shivers right down her spine. She surprised herself when she didn't try to resist instead she just put her head back onto the desk giving him full access to her. She moaned when he breathed out heavily onto her neck her ears flushed with embarrassment when she heard herself. Even she could smell Nicks arousal at the situation they had found themselves in. She looked down at him his ears were flat to his head and his tail was all bushy and upright.

"somebody will see us." She said softly as she ran her paw over the back of Nicks head just before they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Nick pulled back straightening his clothes out and Judy shot upright just in time. Dave burst into the room in a very cheerful mood "Morning all" he chirped his tail gently wagging. Judy tried to flatten her fur out without making it to obvious what she was doing.

"Morning Dave, no Ben today?" she asked, still slightly out of breath, luckily Dave didn't seem to notice.

Dave sat at his desk and turned his computer on "He's on his way up. He's helping Sophia bring the CCTV from the shopping centre up the stairs. Who uses video tapes these days anyway?" he asked rhetorically, shrugging his shoulders and screwing up his face.

"I want a quick meeting when they get here." Judy announced as she hopped off nicks desk.

"You've been in charge for one day and you're already calling team meetings?" Nick said jokingly. Judy just looked over her shoulder at him and gave her best pretend angry look. He just chuckled at her and turned his computer on.

A minute or two passed before Ben and Sophia walked in with the piles of CCTV tapes. Sophia was a tall slim zebra who often wore a black suit and white shirt that made her stripes pop.

"Here's the CCTV from the scene skip." Sophia said. Judy hated her voice, it was one of those fake girly voices and Judy thought that the zebra believed she was better than everybody. "Thanks Soph, just put them in Bogo's office for now please. I want to have a quick recap and bring everyone up to speed before we start today."

"Ok" Sophia said letting out a stupid giggle, that was all it took to remind Judy why she avoided that mammal at all costs.

Judy stood up from her desk and walked over to the board. "Right then." She said when she got there. "We've got a dead mammal with no suspects so far. I want Ben and Sophia to go through every minute of those CCTV tapes and see what's there, Those cameras must have caught something." Ben and Sophia sighed at the thought of going through the tapes it would take them all day, even if they sped up the boring bits. "Fang I want you to chase up forensics we need anything they can give us."

"Way ahead of you fluff." Dave said cheekily, instantly riling Judy up, he must have heard Nick call her it. "I had an email this morning, but they couldn't find anything."

"Seriously, not one bit of evidence?" Judy asked frustrated by how the killer seemed to know how crime scene investigation worked.

"Not a scrap, no fur, no prints, nothing." Dave confirmed.

"Damn let's hope something comes up on CCTV then. Sophia did you get the statement form the PCSO?"

"Yeah I did, she said that she saw a mammal with a leather trench coat on scuttle down an alleyway when she approached, but she couldn't say what species the killer was." Sophia said sitting back in her chair and inspecting her hooves.

"At least we know what to look for on the CCTV then" Judy said interrupted by Nicks phone ringing.

"Yeah… OK… Be right down." Nick said flatly down the phone. Everyone was looking at him when he hung up. He spun back around in his chair with a big cheesy grin on his face and his tail swinging behind him. "There's a mammal in reception claiming to know everything about the murder."

Judy's eyes lit up and her tail twitched slightly. "Come on then Slick, lets go." She said more or less skipping out of the incident room.

Nick and Judy took the mammal into one of the witness rooms in the station. I was just an interview room, but it had a window and sofas with a coffee table instead of the hard plastic chairs and high table the interview rooms had. The mammal was a male badger, his hair was slicked back on his head and he wore a parker over his fat belly. Judy thought he looked a bit nerdy.

"Hello sir, I'm DI Judy Hopps and this Is DS Nicholas Wilde do you mind if we record this conversation?" Judy realised she had her stern interview voice on, but the mammal nodded. She softened up before continuing, she clicked the recorder on and asked the mammal his name.

"Simon Setsworth" The badger said.

"Can I call you Simon?"

"Of course."

"Well Simon the receptionist told us you had some information about a crime that you wanted to share with us." Judy spoke softly knowing how quickly witnesses could clam up if you weren't careful.

"Yes, about the murder that happened yesterday morning. I noticed the sign at the scene appealing for information." Simon said fidgeting with the handles of his brief case that he had brought in with him.

"What can you tell us" Judy asked putting on her best concerned face as she put her paw on the badgers to try and calm his nerves. It seemed to work because he smiled slightly and began talking.

"She was lying on the riverbank, a Lynx, A small pool of blood around her head. Simon stopped for a moment.

"Go on its ok" Nick said he his voice like velvet distracting Judy from what was happening around her. 'why am I so helpless around him, I've never been like this with somebody before' She thought to herself. Simon spoke again bringer her mind back into the room. Simon gestured as he talked describing every detail of the scene like it was right in front of him.

"She was on her back, head facing north with her legs slightly parted and her skirt lifted on one side. Her throat had been cut and her body mutilated. A long cut up her left side and four stab wounds on her right." He said, Judy picked up on a twinge of excitement in Simon's voice when he noticed Nick and Judy glancing at each other in confusion at how perfectly he had described the scene.

"Did you see the murder happen?" Nick asked, he was in interview mode now. His tail frizzed out and his voice stern and harsh but calm.

"Oh, god no" The badger said "I wasn't there. the murder I just described happened exactly 100 years before your murder did."

Nick was puzzled and looked to Judy for help but found her doing the same to him.

"I just described the murder of Elaine Tailsgood. A Lynx who was killed by Jack the Scratcher at the exact same location on the exact same date in exactly the same way."

"You are pulling my tail?" Nick said angrily.

"No, No, my book, it will help you with your investigation, everything you need to know about the murder… and the ones still to come is in this book." He said pulling a book out of his briefcase.

"You're a scratcherologist aren't you?" Nick said exasperated by the badger. Judy Picked up the book and read the title "Jack the Scratcher the Zoodale murderer by Simon Setsworth." She said questioningly, she was about to open it when Nick stood up and spoke again. "Every time there's a stabbing in Zoodale you freaks crawl out of the woodwork." Nick was leaning on the table his hackles up and his tail straight out behind him, his arm shot out to point at the door. "Now get out before I nick you for wasting police time."

"Ok, Ok, I'll go but when you realise I'm right my card is in the back of the book." Simon left the room leaving the book on the table. Judy was shocked, she had never seen Nick so angry.

"What happened there?" Judy asked, she was staring at him with piercing eyes.

"I hate scratcherologists. They think that everyone wants to copy their idol." Nick grabbed the book off the table and tossed it in the bin. "We don't need the ramblings of a mad man to confuse things further." He said before storming out.

Judy sat for a moment trying to figure out what had just happened before she turned off the recorder and packed the tape up.

Half an hour later Judy walked into the incident room, her ears were droopy and her shoulders hung loose. Ben and Sophia were still watching the CCTV tapes, Dave had Decided that they needed a third pair of eyes on them and was watching over their shoulders.

Ben looked round from his monitor "Anything new?" he asked before turning back to his monitor.

Judy shook her head "He was a scratcherologist, he described every detail of the murder perfectly, but he wasn't describing Jasmine's murder, he was describing Jack the scratchers first victim."

Dave looked round with a puzzled look on his face. "And the murder was identical?"

"every detail." Judy said deep in thought. She was considering the idea that it was a copycat of Jack the scratcher.

"Don't you think we should look into this?" Dave asked.

"I'm not sure I need to speak to Nick. Have you seen him?" Judy had a very uncomfortable feeling when she realised Nick wasn't in the room, he was in such a state when he stormed off she assumed he had came here to vent to Dave.

Ben turned back around. "We thought he was with you skip."

Judy hopped up onto one of the desks that looked over the car park to check if his car was there with her ears pricked up into an alert position. See let out a sigh of relief when she noticed his car, he can't have gone far, she thought to herself.

"Judy what's wrong? he's probably just got side-tracked talking or something." Dave said trying to calm her down.

Judy's ears drooped again. Her nose started to twitch, and her lip quivered slightly "He Just stormed off out of the room and I, I Just don't know what's wrong with him" she sniffed before continuing. "He just seems so angry or upset all the time. I'm worried." She struggled to keep back a sob, the thought of her fox being unhappy, what was he going through that was making him so uneasy and irritable, when he is normally so cool and kind.

Judy was just about to sit down when all of a sudden, she shouted "There!" and pointed to the CCTV screen, her arm flying up pointing to the monitor in front of Sophia. "That's him that's the killer." She said excitedly, he ears had perked back up again now and her heart was pumping in her chest. The mammal on screen had a long leather trench coat on with a hat that obscured his face. They couldn't even tell what species the mammal was, luckily, he glanced over his shoulder giving the camera a full view of his face. There was no doubt that he was a grey wolf, his long muzzle, dark fur and height making it a dead cert. The wolf obviously trained hard, they could tell how well built he was even with the coat on, he looked like he could handle himself too.

"What are you looking at?" Nick asked from the door of the incident room, chewing on a chocolate bar he had got from the canteen vending machine.

"Nick." Judy squeaked as she threw her arms around him. Her joy quickly turned to anger though "Where have you been, you dumb fox, you cant just run off like that, I didn't know where you were or anything." She dropped her arms and glared up at him, but she couldn't stay mad at him. "I was worried." She said softening her face and tilting her head slightly. She expected a witty response, but she didn't get one, instead he bent over slightly and gave her a quick kiss. Her reaction probably surprised her more than Nicks kiss, she leant in for more just as he pulled away.

The other 3 mammals were staring at them speechless, the sight of their Sergeant and their DI showing such affection towards each other stunned them. Nick stood up with his tail waving behind him. "I've needed to do that for so long." He said softly "I just couldn't bottle it up any longer."

Judy reached up and stroked Nick's muzzle with her paw. They stared at each other for a moment before it was broken by Dave, "I told you she loved you back Slick." Which was met with a friendly punch in the arm from Ben "You knew about this and didn't even tell your partner! I don't think I can work with you anymore." Ben joked. Sophia Just sat there in silence watching what was happening around her.

"I'd say that's lunch." Nick said glancing at his watch before looking back to Judy and smiling as he drifted into her deep purple eyes.

When the pack returned from Lunch Sophia was nowhere to be seen, but Judy didn't mind. The less time she had to spend with that mammal the better.

"Right then, me and Nick are going to check out that alleyway from the CCTV to see if we can find the knife or, well, anything useful. You two get on with a door to door in the area on the off chance that somebody saw something." Judy chirped, she was still high on Nick. The five of them had gone to the café around the corner that gave police officers a discount to try and bring in a bit more business. It worked, most of the station went there but they had gone early and beaten the rush. Dave had teased Nick about him and Judy, ben had said his catch phrase "Oh em goodness." At least a thousand times, usually followed up with "I can't believe it" or "you two are so cute together!" or something similar. Nick had just sat and took it with his arm around Judy and the biggest smile on his face that Judy had ever seen. Sophia on the other hand just sat at the end of the table in silence, they hadn't even noticed her leaving.

Nick jangled his car keys to hurry Judy along. "Coming." She said cheerily before skipping after him.

"Don't you two get distracted now." Dave said winking at them.

"I can't promise that." Nick replied, winking back at Dave and grabbing Judy's tail as she passed him making her jump, she batted at his paw and pretended to scowl at the stupid face he was making. His smile was splitting his face in two, his ears were pricked right up, and his tail wagged slowly behind him. Judy had never seen him so happy and she couldn't ever remember being this happy herself, well maybe when she got her badge but that didn't fill her with the same excitement and give her butterflies like she had now.

In the alleyway Nick and Judy searched around, looking for a knife or anything else the killer could have discarded as he left the scene. The alleyway was dark and damp due to the tall buildings either side, it made Judy feel uneasy, but Nick looked right at home there. They were using flashlights to help them find any clues, just as it was looking like a lost cause Nick spotted something glistening down a manhole.

"Got something over here Carrots." Nick called. He was hunched over the manhole shining his torch down the narrow gap left by the cover.

"What is it?" Judy asked as she jogged over to him.

"I think it's a knife, give me a paw with this cover." They slid the manhole cover off revealing the shimmering blood-soaked knife resting on the pipes in the hole.

"Jackpot" Nick said as he picked the knife up with the very tips of his claws and placed it in an evidence bag.

Judy took her phone out and rang ben, she needed the knife tested as quickly as possible. "Ben, we've got a knife, get on the phone to the lab and get them to rush it through we are heading back now."

"Of course, skip, I'll do it now."

"How did the door to door go?" Judy asked

"Nobody saw a thing, not one mammal could tell us anything." Ben huffed, not that they had expected to get anything useful, but it was still depressing when nothing came up.

"Thought as much, most of them will have been asleep." Judy said slightly miffed that nobody had seen or even heard a murder.

"Ok Ben, we'll meet you at the station, I think celebrations are in order tonight." Judy said happily. She hung up the phone and took Nick's free paw in hers, her tail twitching happily when he gently squeezed her paw. "You feeling better now it's out in the open?" she asked him.

Nick sighed. "Yeah I was just so scared that you were just being nice, and I didn't want to lose what we already had."

"Hey" she said softly, stopping and taking his other paw with the evidence bag in. "Nothing will ever come between us, you're my fox now, OK?"

"As long as you can handle being my bunny." Nick nuzzled her neck before she bent her head slightly and bit his

"I'll show you just how much I can handle later Mr Wilde." Her tone had completely changed now and she could sense Nick's heartbeat increase, he was so easy to tease. "Now let's get back to the station." She spun away from him before he could do anything to stop her.

"You are one sly bunny." He said following her to the car.

* * *

Ben and Dave were standing leaning on the desk closest to the door with both paws, their tails hung loose and ears back when Nick and Judy walked into the incident room. Judy flattened the fur between her ears, only for Nick to ruff it up as soon as she moved her paw.

"early one again lads?" Nick said patting Dave on the back.

"Doesn't look like it." Ben said in a sombre, flat tone.

Judy's face dropped and her ears fell to her back, she was looking forward to a night with her fox. "why what's happened now?" she said deflating slightly.

"We've got another dead girl." Dave said, he didn't move from the desk, he didn't even look at them.

Nicks tail frizzed out. "Who, where?" Judy placed a paw on his arm to calm him.

"It's on Duke street, number 62, it's a red light job." Dave said, still not moving from the desk.

"The other girls found her about 10 minutes ago." He added.

"Well I suppose we had best get down there." Nick said clapping his paws together as he turned back around to head out again. "I'll drive Carrots… See you two down there."


	7. Chapter 7

The entrance to number 62 Duke street was being guarded by 2 uniformed officers that Nick and Judy had never seen before. One was a tiger and the other a lion. The pair flashed their warrant cards to the officers and were allowed into the property. As soon as they stepped foot in the house, both Nick and Judy knew exactly what it was used for. the grubby sofas and tables in the front room combined with the assortment of drug paraphernalia and the scantily clad mammals of varying species dotted about the place were a dead giveaway that this house was operating as a brothel, but that was beside the point, for now anyways.

"Wilde, Hopps, up here." Judy was surprised to see that the superintendent had shown up, but she put it down to the powers that be putting pressure on. Murder was a rare thing in this town and with two in such a short space of time all eyes were on the case.

Judy nodded towards the large lion who was standing at the bottom of the stairs before her and Nick followed him up where Judy's theory about the superintendent being under pressure was confirmed.

"We need to solve this one asap, the Chief Constable has been on my back since the last murder and as soon as he found out about this one he phoned up and told me to get my ass into gear before the media gets wind of it." The Lion said shaking his head, his luxurious mane gently swaying.

"hopefully this one will give us some leads then." Nick said before being almost blinded by Dr Otterton's camera flash from the room at the end of the corridor.

The sight that met the 3 officers when they poked their heads into the room had the lion boking and turning away. Judy's mouth dropped open and her ears dropped back. A female snow leopard was laid out on the bed in a pool of blood, her throat had been cut and a cross formed on her stomach.

"No need to ask if they are connected then." Nick said, he had stepped into the room and moved slightly towards the scene. Judy couldn't tell if it was intentional or not, but he had shuffled along the wall with his back flat to it.

Dr Otterton looked up "I would say it's connected alright. The same signs of strangulation, the same cut to the neck, but this time…" The otter trailed off.

"This time?" Nick probed.

"There's no gentle way to say this, this time whoever did this, took her kidney."

That was it for Judy. She ran downstairs and out the front door. Somehow, she almost managed to knock the huge tiger over. She couldn't hold it in any longer, she threw up in the street. The sight of Dave standing there with his paws out and mouth slightly open just added to the humiliation that wasn't made any better when she saw that she had just emptied her dinner onto his feet.

"I'm so sorry Dave." She said, her eyes watering and her throat burning.

"That bad eh, count me out for this one then." Dave said. He had a much lower tolerance for gruesomeness that Judy did and seeing her like this had made his mind up about whether or not he should go inside. He would be interviewing any potential witnesses in his car but not before he had cleaned himself up.

Nick came out of the house seconds later, but for Judy it felt like an hour had passed.

"You ok fluff?"

"Yeah, I don't know what came over me." She rubbed her eyes with her paws and nick put his arm around her shoulder.

"What's happened in there Nick?" ben asked. The fat cheetah had just managed to free himself from the passenger side of Dave's car.

"It's a bad one… They took her kidney. She's been opened up like a sardine tin." Nick's voice was flat and quiet. He didn't want any onlookers seeing although he was sure that somebody would have snapped a picture of Judy throwing up or him with his arm around her and nothing good could come from that.

"Come on Judes lets get out of here, Ben and Dave can handle this. We'll go and see Dr O in the morning." Nick suggested as he noticed a few mammals with cameras approaching.

Judy just nodded and held onto nicks arm as he led her to his car. He held out a paw to help her into the passenger side before closing the door and climbing inot the drivers seat.

"The book." Judy announced, staring straight ahead

"What book?" Nick asked. he had no idea what she was going on about. "I didn't see any books."

"No, the scratcherologist's book, it said that the second victim had her kidney taken and… and… oh god." Judy's eyes widened and her heart dropped. 'who was it going to be, which of them was going to be unfortunate enough to wake up to that'.

"What Judy? Tell me." Nick was starting to panic now.

"the book said th… that the killer's nemesis w… w… would have _it _hand delivered the morning after the second killing." Judy turned to nick with pure fear in her eyes. His natural reaction would have been to scoop her up and tell her everything was going to be ok, but he just stared back at her with a blank expression on his face. His mind was working overtime. 'Dave had kits, what if one of them opened it. Ben was staying with his elderly mother, could she handle the shock? What if Judy got it? Hand delivered? that means the killer knows where one of us lives.'

"You're staying with me until we solve this." Nick announced after a minute of silence.

"huh" Judy wasn't expecting that and the look on her face prompted Nick to elaborate.

"If its hand delivered that means he knows where at least one of us lives, and I couldn't bear to walk into another scene and see…" It was Nicks turn for his voice to trail off and tears came to his eyes. He hung his head. "I couldn't bear to see you like that." He only looked around when he felt a small paw on top of his.

"Oh Nick… You foxes, so emotional." Judy took Nick's paw and awkwardly hugged him over the centre console of the car. The moment was quickly broken by the flash of a reporter's camera.

"Those arseholes." Nick hissed.

"Nick!"

"Well they just can't keep their muzzles out of other people's business. We will be all over the front pages tomorrow, how did they even know this had happened?" Nick was still enraged when he sped away from the scene almost flattening the reporter that had snapped them.

'How do they know about this?' Judy thought to herself.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the morning after the 2nd murder and Nick woke up with an unexpected weight on his chest. he looked down to see a ball of grey fur curled up against him. Judy had started the night in the spare room, she had suggested that they share the bed but Nick had convinced her that she needed the rest. It wasn't that he didn't want to curl up beside Judy, he just thought that she needed her own space.  
'sly bunny' Nick thought. He gently stroked Judy's head and ears with his paw, a smile coming to his face when she leant into his touch. A loud banging on the front door startled Nick almost making him jump up out of the bed. Judy was instantly wide awake with her tiny claws clinging to Nick's arm.

"What's going on?" Judy whispered with a tinge of anger behind her voice.

Nick shrugged and slid out of bed to investigate. A small brown box with a red ribbon neatly tied around it had been posted through the door. Nick opened the door and looked out but there was nobody to be seen. He closed the door and picked up the small parcel, he stood still and read a small tag that was tied to the ribbon. 'To Judy Hopps.' The first line read, it was written in a fancy cursive way, somebody had taken time when writing it. Whoever had scribbled down the next line hadn't taken as much time, 'you can't hide that easily rabbit.' Was scrawled on the tag in red ink, all of the colour drained from Nicks face and his tail hit the floor with a thud. The tod hadn't noticed Judy down the hall behind him and was a little shocked when he heard her.

"What is it?" she asked timidly.

Nick turned around still holding the small box, "It's for you."

Judy's ears flopped to her back and she froze in place when she saw her fox's face, she had never seen him look so scared. Nick slowly made his way to the kitchen and set the box down on the kitchen table. both of them stood and started at it for what felt like days.

"Should we…?" Nick asked, his face still set with fear. Judy just nodded her head slowly, but neither of them moved for a moment until Nick finally managed to pluck up the courage to grip the ribbon carefully with his claws and slowly pulled out the bow. He lifted the lid off the box to find another note. It was a piece of card folded in half and set inside the box. Judy reached for it and lifted it out of the box revealing a small neatly wrapped parcel of greaseproof paper. Judy unfolded the note and read it to herself, she couldn't believe what it said.

"Judy?" Nick said questioningly... No response.

"Judy, what's wrong?... Judy!" still no answers, she was just staring at the card in her trembling paws.

Nick pulled it out of her grip. 'sorry it's only half of it, I couldn't resist trying some for myself. I would recommend frying it with garlic and onion.' The note sent a shudder through Nicks core. He gently opened the grease-proof paper parcel and was met with half of a mammal's kidney soaked in blood, his jaw tightened in a straight line, the smell of it almost making him gag. Judy had slumped into the dining chair behind her, her paw covering her mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks. She whispered something that Nick could barely pick up.

"They've been watching us."

* * *

"I don't care if you haven't had your coffee yet, get a team down here now!" Nick snarled down the phone. His hackles were up and his tail flicked the air angrily behind him. He had phoned Dave's desk number hoping that he had gone in early but was met with the voice of Sophia who had just finished complaining about having to send a team out before her morning coffee. Judy was sat on Nick's sofa with her knees under her chin silently staring into space. The smell of blood from the parcel on the kitchen table that they had opened about 30 minutes ago was still making her feel sick. She could only imagine what it was doing to Nick with his much more powerful nose. He flopped down on the sofa beside her, exasperated from the call with their striped colleague. His mind was quickly brought back into the room when Judy snuggled into his side.

"They've been watching us." She sobbed into his red fur, a large foxy paw gently caressing her back.

"Nick they've been watching us." Judy repeated. Nick scooped her up and hugged her tight to his chest.

"You're safe here Carrots, nobody can hurt you here." Nick tried his best to comfort Judy, but she just kept saying the same thing over and over again.

"But Nick, they have been watching us." It finally clicked, Nicks mouth dried up like a desert and his ears flattened to his head when he realised just what Judy was trying to say. Whoever had posted that parcel hadn't simply followed them from the crime scene, they had been watching for days? Weeks? Maybe months? Whoever it was knew where both of them lived and that Judy had come home with Nick, but he couldn't think about this now, he had a bunny to look after.

* * *

Another hour passed before Nick heard a knock on the front door despite him telling Sophia to ask the forensics team to use the back door in case they disturbed any paw prints that might have been left out front. That mammal was in for one hell of a bollocking when they got to the station.

It wasn't long before the forensics team had completely taken over the kitchen and hallway. They took pictures of everything and tested the hallway for blood to find any small traces that could have come off the box when it was posted. They took samples from the kidney and checked the box that it had been delivered in for paw prints.

"Get that thing out of my house." Nick hissed, pointing at the mammal's kidney still lying on his kitchen table. The team had been there for hours now and had more than outstayed their welcome, some of them had given Nick odd looks when they saw Judy in pyjamas or cuddled up to Nick on his sofa and Nick felt like they were just sticking their muzzles in now.

"Sorry Nick, these things take time, we will be gone as soon as we can." one of them said, she sounded familiar but all Nick knew was that the mammal bent over in his kitchen was a sheep, the paper suit and mask made it difficult to identify mammals. Nick just shrugged and turned back into his living room. He sat back down next to Judy who he was surprised to find wasn't upset anymore, instead she was angry and determined to take down the creature that had done this.

"We need to catch them before they get any closer." Judy said with determination in her voice.

* * *

Later that afternoon Nick was back in the witness interview room where him and Judy had met the scratcherologist, but this time he was on the other side of the table with Ben and Dave sat opposite.

"Where's the Skip?" Ben asked after swallowing a doughnut in 2 bites. His question was quickly answered when the rabbit burst into the room causing all 3 fairly large predators to flinch and wonder who was going to bear the brunt of whatever was coming their way. Nick automatically assumed it would be him as always.

"That bloody pony is an absolute liability, can you believe she had the cheek to say that she was tired and couldn't be arsed listening to a fox that early in the morning." Judy was of course referring to Sophia who is a zebra not a pony. Nick couldn't hold his tongue.

"sounds like she's been lucky to get away alive never mind still in a job. And anyways, you often can't be arsed listening to a fox in the morning." He said sarcastically, smiling down at the angry, twitching ball of grey fur beside him.

"You'll be lucky to get out alive if I catch you after this." Judy snapped at Nick, bringing a chuckle from Dave.

"don't you start McFang, I don't have a problem working with a completely shaved wolf."

Dave held his paws out as if to plead innocence. "Hey, Hey, I'm just an innocent bystander here."

"C'mon Carrots, lets get this over with." Nick said, he almost put a paw on her shoulder but sensed that that would be a bad idea. Judy folded her arms, huffed and sat back in her seat. She waved a paw at Dave to signal him to start the interview.

"You two know how this works, say your names and tell us what happened, then I think a trip to the pub is in order, if our DI allows it." Dave said winking at Judy.

"Alright, but your buying." Judy said and nobody knew if she was being serious or not.


	9. Chapter 9

Early on the Monday morning after the 2nd victim who had been identified as Abigail White had been found, DCI Bogo was due back in the early afternoon, so Nick was even more surprised when his phone rang, and a picture of the buffalo appeared on the screen.

"Wilde, put the news on." Bogo said before Nick could manage a hello. Nick moved his breakfast of chicken sausages and eggs off his knee and reached for the TV remote, he turned the set on and flicked to the news channel. The image showed a reporter standing outside number 62 Duke street, the headline along the bottom read "The Scratcher returns."

Nick stared at the TV in stunned silence how was this possible, they had done everything they could to keep the story out of the media. Bogo's next sentence stunned Nick even more.

"Care to explain this Wilde." The buffalo said through gritted teeth down the phone. Instantly filling with rage, it took every ounce of Nicks strength not to throw the phone at the wall.

"You think it was me!" Nick hissed, the fact that Bogo was accusing him of being the leak hurt him more than he would care to admit.

Nick continued before Bogo could speak again. "You think I would do that? I have earned the respect of this team, of Hopps, and I thought that I had earned yours as well!" Nick paused for a moment he was physically shaking now, and the end of his tail was flicking the air wildly behind him. "I'll find your leak for you, and you will apologise! A decent bottle of port should do the job." Nick hung up before he said anything he would really regret. He held his phone out in front of him and stared at the blank screen. 'how could he think it was me?' Nick asked himself, before realising 'right… fox.'

Judy must have heard the argument and thought that somebody was in the house because she came into the living room ready for a fight, still in her pyjamas but ready to do some serious damage. Nick made a mental note not to sneak up on her when she had just woken up, fearing he would get sent flying by one of her insanely powerful kicks.

"What on earth is going on in here." Judy asked once she realised Nick was alone.

"Have you seen this?" Nick pointed to the TV, the reporter was still outside the scene on Duke street. Judy's ears dropped. "How?" she said sounding deflated.

"Bogo seems to think I sold us out." Anger flashed in Nicks eyes again but was quickly replaced by the saddest emptiest look Judy had ever seen. She realised why instantly, she had stepped by from Nick and her paw was at her side fumbling for a taser that thankfully wasn't there.

"Even you can't trust me." Nick said as he grabbed his coat, his shoulders slumping when he put it on.

"The keys are in the bowl see you at work… Judy." Usually when Nick called Judy by her real name, he was either scared, worried, or they were sharing a very tender moment, but this time was different. The hurt in his voice as he said it almost sounded like hatred.

"Nick, wait!" she called after him, but it was too late, the door slammed shut and he was gone. She thought about following him but decided against it knowing that it would just make things worse.

'who could it be?! Nick was racking his brains, he needed to know which member of the team had potentially ruined the investigation and potentially lost Nick his job. 'Won't be Dave, he wouldn't do that.' Then it came to him. "Ben." He said out loud getting a strange look from a passing bear. 'he wouldn't do it intentionally, but he didn't know when to shut up.' Nick waved down a taxi and was surprised when it actually stopped, not many mammals trusted foxes. A point Nick felt had been well proven already this morning.

* * *

Nick walked into the incident room and was relieved to see that Ben was sat at his desk alone. He travelled to work with Dave and they we're almost inseparable.

"Ben, have you got a min?" Nick asked gesturing to Bogo's office with his paw. He walked in with Ben following behind.

"What's up Red?" Ben asked. 'hmm, Red, that's new.' Nick thought to himself, he liked his new nickname and hoped that it would stick.

"Look, Ben." Nick said fidgeting with his claws. how was he going to say this without coming across too harsh or upsetting one of his best friends?

"Ben, I'm not saying you sold us out or anything, but you do like to be in the gossip and…" Nicks voice trailed off giving Ben the chance to but in, the look of horror on his face and shock in his voice told Nick he had made a massive mistake.  
"You think… Nick… I wouldn't."

Nick felt horrible, but he had to be sure.  
"Are you sure you haven't let anything slip by mistake?" Nick said trying his best to save what he could from the situation, but it didn't work.

"How dare you." Ben huffed, he stood up and stormed out of Bogo's office. As the door slammed shut behind Ben, Sophia walked into the incident room carrying 2 boxes of doughnuts and a tray of 5 coffees from their favourite watering hole.

"Coffees are on me this morning." She said followed by her staple fake giggle. Nick came out of the office and his face must have given what he was thinking away because Sophia avoided all eye contact.

"What's the occasion?" Nick asked, trying his best to keep his tone friendly.

"What do you mean by that?" Sophia scoffed. Her defences went up straight away, only increasing Nicks suspicion even further.

Nick sauntered over to Judy's desk where Sophia had put the donuts, he picked one up and inspected it.  
"You never normally buy the morning coffee and you've even pushed the boat out with doughnuts." Nick said still staring at the iced treat in his paws. He glanced over to Sophia and could see her tense up. 'great she's rattled now' he thought.

"I, I just thought I'd treat you guys." She mumbled.

"Are you sure it's not your guilty conscience?" Nick said, he had stopped looking at the doughnut and was staring straight into Sophia's eyes.

"What are you getting at Wilde." Sophia snapped at him, putting her hooves on her hips. Nicks fur bristled and his muzzle lifted slightly, his fangs glinting in the light from the fluorescent tubing.

"Oh, I don't know, a couple of grand in the back pocket from the press in exchange for a little info so you bring in doughnuts to smooth things over?" Nick suggested, he was starting to lose control now. Judy and Dave had walked in, but Nick didn't notice until he heard the door close behind them. He suddenly became very aware of the fact that his teeth were on full display. He did his best to calm himself, after seeing how Judy had reacted earlier he never wanted her to see him like that again.

"I won't be accused of this by a, by a…" Sophia caught herself, but Nick pressed her.

"By a, what?" He hissed through gritted teeth.

"By a fox!" Sophia shouted, Judy's body went rigid and her paws clenched. Nick saw Dave put his paw across her front to stop her doing anything stupid. Nick struggled to keep his cool again, focusing on the fact that Judy was in the room helped him just enough to keep control.

"This fox happens to be your sergeant." Nick said as calmly as possible.

"Why did you do it?" He asked

"To put you and hopefully that bloody rabbit…" Sophia shoved a hoof in Judy's direction "… out of the picture." That was the final straw for Nick, his whole body was trembling, people targeting him he could deal with, but targeting the mammals he loved certainly crossed the line.

"Get out of my incident room." Nick growled keeping his piercing gaze on Sophia the whole time. The zebra didn't say a word as she walked towards the door and was about to leave when Judy stopped her, she held out her paw and looked Sophia in the eye.

"What?" The Zebra hissed, rolling her eyes at what she saw as a pathetic excuse of a mammal.

"Warrant card." Judy said calmly. Flicking her eyes between Sophia's and her paw.

"With pleasure." Sophia mumbled, she flicked her warrant card and badge at Judy hitting just below the eye. Nick growled and was about to dive but was stopped by a look from Dave.

Sophia walked away muttering something about "dammed foxes" and "worthless bunnies".

"You ok Carrots?" Nick asked, all the anger had gone from him and his tone was that of genuine concern.

"Nick, about this morning." Judy began, she couldn't look at him, she was too ashamed that she had backed away from him earlier. Nick shushed her and placed a paw on her cheek forcing her to look into his eyes.  
"Judy, I'm sorry I scared you." He said. Judy tried to protest that point, but Nick wasn't having it.  
"No, I did" Nick said, this time it was him who looked ashamed.  
"I was a jerk, I shouldn't have stormed off like that." He wiped a tear from her eye with his thumb.  
"Nick you had every right to walk out, I hurt you… again." Judy said with her lip quivering.

"And you've come back to fix it… again." Nick added a little sarcasm to that last word in an effort to lighten the mood. Thankfully it worked and Judy chuckled.

"I've got a phone call to make, Can I have a hug from my bunny first?" Nick put his best puppy eyes on and cocked his head. Judy threw her arms around him.  
"Anytime Nick, my sly fox." The moment was quickly ruined by a noise coming from Clawhouser  
"AAAUUUUWWWWEEAA" the cheetah squeaked, making both of them very, very aware of where they were. They separated awkwardly and Nick walked over to Ben he put his paw on the cheetahs back and quietly apologised. Ben simply waved him off and smiled, but Judy couldn't tell what was being said even with her bunny hearing.

Once Nick had finished his call with Bogo he came out of the office with a smug look on his face. Judy rightly assumed that Bogo had done some serious groveling.

"Yes!" Dave shouted from behind his computer. He was reading an email he had received from the lab. "The Kidney is a positive match to White, and they found a print on the box, it belongs to a weasel, but they can't find a match on their database."

"So that leaves us with?" Nick said pouting slightly.

"Nothing." Ben announced flopping his head down into his paws. Nick spotted Judy's ears prick up slightly out the corner of his eye.

"Hold on." She said excitedly as she fumbled around in her desk drawers, after a minute she pulled out the scratcherologist book and thumbed the pages.  
"The scratcher used the 3rd victims paw print on the original box to throw the police of his tail." Judy read, her face dropped, realising that the 3rd victim had already been selected and was most likely dead already.

"When does the 3rd body show up." Dave asked.

Judy scanned the page of the book, "Tonight, 9pm at the old castle. Its too important for him to miss this one, the 3rd victim was found with a note from the killer."

Dave was about to say something, but Judy cut him off.  
"Ben, check missing persons for missing weasels. Dave run that paw print through our database, just to be sure. Nick, you and me are going to the castle with some uniform to set up a cordon." Judy sounded like a drill sergeant barking orders, everyone was slightly taken aback and Just sat staring at her.

"Go on then! Get to it!" Judy said excitedly. They were finally getting close.


	10. Chapter 10

"Clawhouser, any luck with the Paw-print?" Nick asked down the car radio. His mood had improved dramatically after spending the morning patrolling the castle grounds with Judy. They had stopped for lunch at a sandwich shop and eaten it in the park that surrounded the castle. It was completely deserted due to the police cordon that had been set up around it, but now they were both sat I Judy's unmarked jaguar heading back to the station to give Bogo an update on the situation.

"We had a match. A weasel got arrested 3 months ago for shoplifting. Arnold Hedge. But the charges wouldn't stick, and he got away with it." Ben said. He sounded overly happy, despite the morning events.

"Have you sent a call out to look for…" Judy started but got cut off by slamming the brakes on to avoid hitting a wolf that had pulled out in front of her.  
"Can nobody in this town drive!" She shouted.

Nick was sat beside her so deep in thought that he didn't notice the bunny rage going on beside him. "Hey Carrots, weren't all the original victims female?"

"Yeah, and?" Judy said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well our shoplifter isn't female, so he isn't going to be our 3rd victim."

One of Judy's ears dropped as she thought about it, then she grabbed for the radio again.  
"Ben, you and Dave get around to that weasels address now! He isn't the next victim, but if he's got family they might be."

"Ok skip, on our way now." Ben replied. Judy could hear that Ben was breathing heavily so he must have actually been running for a change.

"Good thinking Slick." Judy said proudly as she hung the radio in its holder.

"I'm not just a pretty face you know." Nick said smugly.

* * *

Back at the station DCI Bogo was sat in his office with a pile of papers almost as tall as Judy and a wooden box about half the size sat on his desk. He waved Nick and Judy in.  
"Sit." He said in his usual flat tone.  
"Before we start I want to apologise to you both, especially you Wilde. I was out of order this morning and it won't be happening again." Bogo hung his head slightly which Nick had learnt was a sign that he was genuinely sorry.  
"Now would you care to explain why on earth we are an officer down today?" Bogo raised his eyebrows and looked back and forth between them. Judy took Sophia's warrant card out from her jacket pocket and slid it onto the desk.

"I couldn't let her carry-on sir. She refused to follow direct orders, not to mention the total lack of respect she had for Nick. I couldn't let her talk to my... her sergeant like that." Judy was starting to wind herself up again and had to stop her foot from thumping. Bogo must have noticed because he seemed to rethink what he was about to say.  
"I understand Hopps. We won't be seeing her around here again. Now where are we with these murders the Chief Constable is right on my tail."

After a long discussion updating Bogo on the various details of the case and awkwardly trying to explain how Judy had ended up at Nicks house in her pyjamas at 6:00 in the morning Nick and Judy stood to leave.

"Nicholas" Bogo said holding out the wooden box. Nick looked round, slightly shocked that Bogo had used his full name. He took the box in both paws and flipped it over revealing a very expensive bottle of Whiskey from the local distillery.

"Whiskey?" Nick asked, knowing fine well that he had told Bogo to get him port in his rage earlier.

"I know the only reason you said port is because you don't trust me to get a good whiskey. Now don't drink it all at once." Bogo said with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face.

Nicks face lit up, "you know I can't promise that sir."

"I know that. Oh, and you two, keep whatever you've got going on here out of work. I don't have a problem with it, but if the top brass get wind of it, I'll end up finding you both new partners." Bogo's face dropped slightly when he spoke, he held a hoof out gesturing them to leave.

"Of course, sir, thank you sir." Judy mumbled awkwardly as they left.

* * *

"Here we are. 32 Parklands Drive. Nice place" Dave said as Ben pulled their car up to the weasel's address. The house looked well kept, the garden was laid to lawn and the driveway was bricked. If it wasn't for the front door being slightly ajar it could have been a normal family home.

"Somethings not right." Ben said shaking his head.

Dave glanced over the house checking for any obvious signs of trouble. "Let's go." Dave announced as he got out of the car and slowly walked up the garden path, his ears up like radar dishes. They both stopped at the front door and Dave felt for his cuffs and pepper spray before flicking out his telescopic baton.

"After me." He mouthed to Ben.

Dave slowly pushed the front door open with his shoulder, flinching when it creaked loudly. His ears swivelled to point down the hall, there was movement upstairs.

"Police show yourselves." He shouted figuring that whoever was up there already knew that they were here.

Dave motioned for Ben to clear the ground floor of 32 Parklands Drive and cautiously headed up the stairs with one paw on his pepper spray and his baton in the other. He stopped at the top of the stairs trying to pinpoint where the noise had come from, but he heard nothing. There was no noise whatsoever, but he knew that someone was up there. He could smell the scent of about 5 different mammals but only 2 were strong enough to still be in the house. Making his way down the landing Dave had already cleared the first two bedrooms when he came to the closed door of the 3rd, he flung the door open jumping back when a small baseball bat swung up at him.

"Stay back, who the fuck are you?" The small mammal was obviously terrified and Dave standing with his baton held back ready to strike definitely wasn't helping.

Dave lowered his weapon "DC McFang, Zoodale police, you're safe now."

The weasel relaxed slightly and let out a sigh.  
"You gotta help her. He took her right before you got here."

"Who? Who took who?" Dave asked. The weasel was getting agitated again.

"Katie, my wife, he took her and left this note." The weasel handed a note to Dave.

"Are you Arnold Hedge?" Dave asked as he took the note.

"Yeah, I suppose you'll want me to come with you?" The weasel asked grumpily.

Dave didn't answer he just read the note. 'Good Job with the drop, looks like even the filth get upset when you post body parts through their doors. However I am disappointed with you Arnold, you still need to go to the police, you have until 8 tonight or you will never see her again.'

"Clawhouser get up here." Dave shouted.

Dave looked to Arnold who was starting to tear up now. The anger and fear had drained from him completely.  
"We will do everything we can to get her back safe, but you are going to have to come in for questioning. I'm not arresting you… yet." Dave said, stressing the yet.

"Phew… stairs… you know." Ben panted into the room holding his fat belly in his paws, His tail dropped when he saw Arnold standing in the room and the note in Dave's paw.

"Take a look." Dave said holding the note out to Ben.

"We gotta tell Skip." Ben said after reading the note.

* * *

Judy was sat in her car waiting for Nick to come out of the coffee shop when the Ben's voice blared out of the radio.

"Hopps, call back,"

Judy scrambled for the radio, the urgency in Ben's vice was clear and she didn't want to waste any time. "Go ahead Ben." She said after almost dropping the radio a few times.

"We've got the weasel. You were right he isn't the target, but his wife has been taken. We are bringing him in for questioning." Ben sounded out of breath, but Judy quickly remembered that that wasn't unusual for the rather large cheetah.

"Ok, see if you can find out where they have taken her. Me and Nick are heading back up to the castle."

"Judy." Ben said, he sounded worried.

"Yes Claw?"

"Be careful." It always melted Judy's heart a little when Ben Worried, he is such a big softie.

"We will Ben, see you up there later. 8 O'clock. do not be late!" Judy said, hanging up the radio with a smile on her face.

"Aye aye skip." The radio went dead and Judy looked up to see what was taking her damned fox so long to get two coffees.

Nick was outside the coffee shop showing off his paw-ball skills to some kits. Judy scoffed and pipped the horn causing nick to drop the ball bringing a collective "Wheeeeyyyyy." And a sarcastic round of applause from the group of kits. Nick Kicked the ball towards the kits and jokingly told them that he would show them up next time. He grabbed the 2 coffees and sauntered over to the car with a huge grin on his face, his hips swinging and his tail wagging behind him.

"You look happy." Judy said with caution when Nick opened the car door.

"Who wouldn't be walking towards a doe that looks so sexy when she bites her lip." Nick said far too smugly for Judy's liking. A look of pure horror hit her face as she realised that she had in fact bit her bottom lip when Nick had started walking towards her. Nick laughed and handed her a cup.

"Judging by the scent coming out of this car red foxes really do it for you eh Fluff."

Judy could feel the burning in her cheeks and ears, but she couldn't think of anything smart to say. "You know you love it." She said, hoping that it would throw Nick, but it had the opposite effect.

"Do I love it?" Nick sniffed around her and let out a soft growl. "Yes, Yes I do."

That was it, Judy was sure that Nick could see her red cheeks through her fur and feel the heat coming from her ears so she had to change the subject.

"They got the weasel." She said in a higher pitch than usual.

"Squeak that again Carrots." Nick chuckled but was quickly silenced by the look Judy gave him. 'Why couldn't I have just done that earlier' she thought to herself.

"Fine" Nick moaned. "Did they arrest him?"

"Why would they do that?" Judy was genuinely confused. Nick cocked his head and raised one eyebrow.

"What?" Judy squeaked.

"He posted a kidney… through my letterbox." Nick said slowly waving his paws to try and make Judy click.

"Ahhhhh... Yeeaaahhh... I'll radio Ben." Judy said, feeling a little stupid.

Judy Picked up the radio again. "Ben, don't let Mr Hedge out until we've spoken to him, he might be an accomplice."

"Sure thing Judes we'll book him in." Ben chirped back. He sounded a lot less out of breath now.

* * *

Later that day at the castle Nick's watched buzzed letting him know it was 8PM.

"Well would you look at that." Nick folded his arms and had a little chuckle to himself, Dave and Ben had just walked into the castle grounds exactly on time. As usual Ben was eating. He had a bug meat kebab, the thin slices of processed stodge spilling from a pita bread in his paw.

"Oh for gods sake." Judy face-pawed when a rather large piece of bug-meat fell, and Ben scooped it up, shook it and swallowed it whole. Dave was completely oblivious, probably because he saw it happen daily.

"What's happening, any sign?" Dave asked as he and Ben got closer to Nick and Judy.

"No, nothing unusual." Nick said shoving his paws into his pockets.

Judy gasped "Dave, what are you doing?" He had Just pulled a can of lager out of his backpack and cracked it open.

"What? I'm gonna be watching the town side entrance, right?"

"Yeah..." Judy said looking at Dave with one eyebrow raised and her paws held out in bewilderment.

"Well I need to blend in don't I, look like I'm out on the lash."

"And sitting on a bench opposite a park passes for a night out now?" Judy growled. Shaking her head.  
"Go on get down there anyway. We don't have long."

Dave walked off throwing a salute back at the pair. Ben followed close behind still struggling with his overloaded kebab.

"You never let me drink on duty." Nick said with his best grumpy face on.

"There's a difference between a can and drinking whiskey out the bottle." Judy chuckled.

"I'll remember my glass next time, maybe some ice as well." Nick said sarcastically. That alone earned Nick a punch in the arm.

"Ow, your just evil." Nick said playfully. Judy was about to come back with a sly comment but was distracted by commotion on the radio.

"All units, report in." she demanded.

One of the sergeant's voices came back over the radio "Riverside entrance, suspect detained. We need some crowd control down here!"

Nick took one look at Judy and they both sprinted off towards the river.


	11. Chapter 11

A large crowd of mammals had gathered at the riverside entrance to castle park, right in the centre was a police van with its lights flashing and back doors open. A dozen or so uniformed officers were struggling to keep the horde of news reporters and journalists back, all of them fighting to get a glimpse of whoever was in the back of the van.

Nick's eyes were wide and glazed over and his tail hung between his legs.  
"How on earth are we gonna get through that?" He said in horror. He hated crowds, foxes being smaller mammals made pushing through large groups hard work. Nick watched with his mouth gaping as Judy marched towards the crowd.

"DI Hopps, move it." She shouted as she came up behind them. the crowd split almost instantly. Nick jogged to follow her through the almost biblical parted sea of mammals. He was brought back to reality with a surprised "You!" from Judy. Sat in the back of the police van with his head in his paws, trying to shield his face from the dozens of camera flashes was Simon Setsworth, the scratcherologist.

"DI Hopps, DS Wilde!" Simon said joyfully. "They man handled me in here. I was watching for the killer and they dragged me in here." The badger was cut off by a uniformed ocelot. "Ma'am he was found in the trees sneaking up the hill towards the castle." But the ocelot's voice barely registered in Judy's head. She had spotted Dave and Ben fighting their way through the crowd.

"Who's watching the castle?" she whispered to herself in disbelief.  
"Who's watching the castle!" Judy turned to Nick in horror. Nobody was watching the other entrances to the park and it was almost time for the murder. Both of them tried to fight their way out of the crowd, but the spectators were getting restless and they couldn't get out. Judy looked up to Nick with desperation in her eyes. "Nick, I need a boost."

Nick gritted his teeth and nodded at her. He knew exactly what she meant, but he didn't like the idea. Nick hooked his paws together and crouched down so Judy could use them as a step.

"one… two… three." On three Nick pushed up and Judy bounced out of his paws and flicked herself into the crowd.

After a minute or two of pushing and shoving Nick finally broke free after Judy and ran back up to the front of the castle. The shadow being cast by the sunset filtering through the old stonework made it seem even creepier than normal. Nick spotted Judy on her knees staring up at the castle gates with her ears drooping and her nose twitching. He followed her gaze up to the gates.

"Oh god" Nick gasped. He ran to his bunny and turned her away from the pure evil that was strung up before them. Nick winced in pain when Judy grabbed clumps fur on the back of his neck and pulled herself into him, but no matter what happened Nick couldn't make himself look away from what was by far the most disturbing thing he had ever seen. The poor female weasel had been strung up to the castle gates like she had been crucified. Her throat had been slit like the other victims and her stomach sliced open. A knife that had been stabbed into the mammal's heart pinned a folded piece of paper to her chest.

"Oh no no no no. that's her. That's his wife." Ben said when he arrived. Nick hadn't noticed but more or less the entire police force was standing in a horseshoe around him and Judy all of them speechless either at the state of the body tied to the castle gate or at the apparent disgustingness of a bunny clinging to a fox.

"Where's Dave?" Nick asked Ben, blocking out the rest of the mammals around him.

"With the badger." Ben said. Nick's tail bristled at the thought of that slimy mammal.  
'If it wasn't for him causing a distraction, and that's what it was a distraction… they might have been able to save the poor girl' Nick thought.

"I want to talk to him at the station, book him for everything that might stick." Nick growled. Ben nodded and slipped away through the lines of police officers. Nick turned his attention back to Judy. "Hey carrots… Judy." He placed a paw on her cheek and made her look up at him.  
"The note." Was all Judy said in a quiet almost hoarse voice.  
"We will get a look at it tomorrow fluff, come on let's get out of here."  
"I need to know." Judy's face told Nick that she wasn't budging on this one. He nodded and traced his paw down the side of her face, wiping a tear from under her eye. He stood, took a deep breath and slowly made his way towards the castle gates. The smell of blood filled his nose and he wanted nothing more than to turn around and put as much distance between himself and this place as he possibly could. Reaching up he ripped the note off the knife and unfolded the paper. It was another hand-written letter. Nicks jaw hung open slightly and his paws trembled as he read it to himself.

'I see you didn't try the kidney I sent you. I knew a bunny would be apprehensive but a fox, I thought a fox would eat it before it was even cooked. Never mind, it's liver this time it has much more flavour. I'll be sure to send you some.'

Judy's voice broke Nicks terrified trance. "Nick… w-what does it say." He couldn't bear to read it to her but knew better than to hide it, so he held it out in his shaking paw. Judy took it from him slowly, her own paws quivering at the thought of what it could possibly say. The note fell to the floor when Judy had finished reading it.

"Who's doing this Nick? why would somebody want to do this to these mammals? to us?" Judy sounded broken when she spoke which to Nick felt like a dagger to the heart. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I don't know but we will find them."

* * *

Back at the station Judy was going over every scrap of the evidence they had managed to gather on the other murders and comparing it to the original murders described in the scratcherologist's book in the hopes of finding something, anything, that could help lead them to the killer. The interview of Simon would have to wait till tomorrow, but she wasn't going to miss that, and Nick was adamant that he was leading it.

Judy was about to give up looking at the 3rd victim in the book and move on to the 4th and final girl when she spotted it… In an information bubble at the bottle of the page was a 'key fact' it read 'the police were so desperate to find the killer that they even photographed the eyes of the victims in the hope that they held a dying image of Jack.' Judy scolded herself for thinking that such a ridiculous idea could actually help them with this case but then it hit her. 'what if the killer had left his DNA on the victims' eyes?' Every inch on the victims' skin and fur had been checked but not their actual eyes.

"Nick!" She called but there was no answer.

"Nick!" No answer again. Judy swivelled in her chair. Nick was lying in his chair with his hind paws up on the desk and his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth with gentle snores coming from him. Judy was about to have a go at him for falling asleep, but she caught sight of the clock above Bogo's office.

"Never." She said to herself in disbelief as she checked the time on her phone. It was 2:30 AM, they had been in the station for almost 4 hours. They had gone straight there from the castle. Nick had drove and it had taken the entire journey for Judy to get her head together. Bodies and gore didn't normally affect her much, but the way that these girls had been brutally killed and the fact that the killer seemed to be targeting her and Nick unsettled her like never before.

Judy wrote a post-it note saying that her and Nick wouldn't be in in the morning because they had a lead to chase up with forensics and stuck it on Bogo's computer. She didn't go into detail in fear of being laughed out of the station for suggesting such a ridiculous idea, but she had to check it out. When she came back out of the office Nick was still flat-out, but his head had slipped and was now hanging upside down off the side of his chair. Judy had a chuckle to herself at how ridiculous he looked before padding over to him and gently stroking the underside of his muzzle. Nick purred in his sleep and stretched his neck to one side. Judy moved her paw to scratch at the cream fur of his neck.  
"Nicky." She said quietly, trying to wake him without startling him.  
"Come on Slick it's home time."  
Nick rolled his head so Judy could scratch the other side of his neck.

"Nick." Judy chuckled. "Your too cute when your sleepy."  
Nicks right eye opened slightly, and a huge smile spread across his face.  
"so it's ok for you to call me cute." He said sleepily. Judy just shook her head.

"You tired?" Judy asked like she was talking to a kit. Nick responded with an upside-down nod before puckering his lips and pushing his upside-down muzzle towards Judy. she kissed him gently.  
"Come on, we should go." Judy suggested. Nick nodded again and stretched out, groaning as he arched his back. "Can I crawl into the bed tonight fluff." He asked sleepily.

"I can't think of anything better." Judy replied, smiling from ear to ear.

"You'd best drive me home then."


	12. Chapter 12

"Come on, will you hurry up." Judy moaned at Nick as she ran down the stairs into Dr Otteron's office. Nick was still waking up, he wasn't a morning person to start with, never mind when he had only had a few hours sleep.

"Can I help you." A deep eastern European voice boomed from the examination room which was bathed in darkness. Judy stopped in her tracks the unfamiliar voice making the already freaky morgue seem even weirder.

"DS Wilde and this is DI Hopps, we are looking for Dr Otterton." Nick said, he was trying his best to see into the darkened examination room through the glass wall, but he couldn't see anybody.

"She aint in yet." The voice boomed again.

"Okay…" Nick dragged the word out and stepped up beside his partner.  
"Who are you anyway?" He asked into the darkness.

A chair screeched on the tiled floor of the exam room and a few heavy steps later the figure of possibly the largest grey wolf Nick had ever seen appeared in the doorway.  
"I am Joseph, Joseph Schmitt. Dr O's new assistant."

"Oh, nice to meet you Joseph." Nick said giving Judy a gentle dig in the back prompting her to speak.

"Y-Yes, n-nice to, err, meet you." She stuttered. Judy recognised something about Joseph, but she couldn't put her paw on what it was.

"Come on in, I've been writing the report for the 3rd Scratcher victim." The wolf flicked the switch by the door and the fluorescent tubing flickered to life revealing the dead weasel lying uncovered on the cold metal examination table with the wolfs chair beside it. Nick shot a puzzled look at Judy Who shrugged back at him mirroring his expression.  
"Don't be shy. Hehe." Joseph said as he moved over to his chair and picked up a folder which he handed to Nick.  
"This is the report, I'll let Dr O know you stopped by."

"Actually." Judy said surprising herself at how confident she sounded. "We need samples taken from all 3 victims' eyes, not eyelids, their actual eyes."

Joseph screwed up his face. "That's a little odd isn't. I'll talk to the doctor about it."

"Sitting in a dark room with dead bodies is a little strange too, perhaps I should talk to the doctor about that?" Judy shot back but quickly retreated to Nicks side when the large wolf puffed his chest up and breathed deeply "If your quite finished, I've got work to do."

"We'll be in touch." Nick said as he hurried Judy out of the room and up the stairs before she could land them in more trouble.

* * *

A few hours later Judy was sat at her desk going over the details of the final murder which was due to take place tomorrow night. She was trying to pinpoint exactly where it would take place. The original location had been turned into a large, well-used, well watched car park. The only place Judy could think of that the murder could possibly take place was a nearby block of flats called Millers Walk. She made a mental note to talk to Nick about it later.

Nick was discussing the medical report they had picked up with Bogo. Judy was about to go and join them but was distracted when her desk phone rang. After a heavy sigh she picked it up.  
"Hello DI Hopps."

"Hey Judy, its Julie." Dr Otterton said cheerfully.

"Oh, hi doc, did you take samples from the mammal's eyes?"

"Joseph is taking then now. We will send them off today."

"Oh great, could you put a major rush on them? We need results tomorrow." Judy crossed her fingers hoping that it wasn't too late to push the tests through.

"I should be able to get the results to you tomorrow morning." Dr Otterton replied to Judy's relief.

"Thanks doc."

"Anytime. Got to go Judes. See you later." There was a crash on the other end of the phone and Dr Otterton hung up before Judy could say anything else. Judy put her phone on the hook and walked towards Bogo's office to share the news.

"you guys found anything?" Judy asked when she reached the open office door.

"Nothing we didn't already know." Bogo huffed.

"When are we interviewing Mr Setsworth?" Judy asked directing her attention to Nick.  
Nick looked at his watch "Ten minutes, we'd better get going." His tail bristled at the thought of Simon, the slimy badger made Nick's skin crawl. He didn't know what is was but something about that badger just creeped him out.

"Oh… right." Judy said, surprised that they were doing the interview so soon. "Dr Otterton's creepy new assistant is taking them samples we asked for and she expects to have the results tomorrow." Judy stepped into the room and flicked through the report but not taking any of it in.

"That's quick." Nick said raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's put a rush on them."

"Good. Should we get this interview over with before we have to release him?"

"Yeah let's go." Judy said with less enthusiasm than Clawhouser eating a salad.

* * *

The Custody officers had already brought Simon Setsworth up to the interview room when Nick and Judy arrived. Nick took the seat opposite Simon and Judy perched herself opposite his solicitor.

"Why am I here?" Simon asked. He sounded like he was already on the verge of a breakdown.

'This will be fun' Nick thought to himself. Judy must have read his mind because she gave him a swift kick under the table while she set up the tape.

"My client asked a question." The solicitor said pretentiously. The solicitor was a smartly dressed female and from what Nick could tell she was half tiger half cheetah.

"That's not how things work in here." Nick spat back at her through gritted teeth. He had no time for games today. They were getting to the bottom of this case if it was the last thing Nick ever did.

"All set here. Is everybody ready?" Judy asked completely oblivious to the tension that had built around her.  
"Very well." Judy pushed the record button and the tape started to spin in the machine.

After going through the formalities of the interview Nick jumped right into questioning Simon.  
"Where were you at 8:00 PM last night?" His tone was flat but deadly serious.

To Nick's surprise Simon didn't seem phased at all. "I was staking out the castle. I was trying to catch the scratcher."

"You were hiding from the police." Nick countered quickly and sternly.

Simon sighed. "I've studied him for years and now here he is, risen again. He is my nemesis."

Nick disregarded that comment and picked up his notes. "Having committed the offence of obstructing the police, you were removed from castle park by two officers."  
"Those thugs yes." Simon jumped in. Nick looked at him over the top of his paper and continued.  
"You were removed from castle park at 8:06 PM, was there anybody else in the park at this time?" Nick's tone remained flat but the atmosphere in the room got heavier by the minute. That was Nick's main tactic, he would remain calm and collected and let the criminals rile themselves up for him before shooting in with a killer question. It worked 90% of the time and he was sure it would work on Simon.

"No." Simon growled. "Look I caused a scene and I'm sorry, but he didn't even show up, so no harm done… right?"

'Gotcha' Nick though. He had him now. In his calm, flat tone Nick told Simon what had happened last night. "at 8:15 PM the body of a female weasel was found strung up to the castle gates."

Simon's lip quivered, and he looked around the room for someone to help him.  
"T-That's not possible, there was no time." Simon mumbled.  
"He had five minutes." Nick hissed cutting Simon off.  
"Bu.."

"All he needed was a distraction." Nick was almost shouting now. "Like the riot that YOU caused" Nick thrust his finger towards Simon and his face went blank.

"Me? you think he used me?" Simon said in horror, but Nick wasn't buying it.

"You made it possible." Judy said, taking control of the interview. "You were his accomplice."

Simon looked to his solicitor then to Judy and finally his eyes met Nick's staring back at him across the table piercing his soul.

"I am a respected authority on Jack and have educated dozens of mammals. I am no killer!" Simon sounded like he was about to cry.

"No but you'd make a good guide." Nick said his voice low and accusing.  
Simon's head dropped to the table. "I only mean to educate."

Nick whispered something in Judy's ear so quiet that only she could hear it. "Get a warrant."


	13. Chapter 13

8:30 AM on the morning of the day that the final murder was due.

* * *

Nick wrapped his knuckles on Simon Setsworth's front door. The door slowly opened and the voice of an elderly badger came out. "Who is it.?"

"DI Hopps and DS Wilde, we have a warrant to search yours and your son's property. May we come in Mrs Setsworth." Nick barged his way past the old badger. Judy apologised to the elderly mammal and followed Nick inside. After a quick search of the house and a thorough ransacking of Simon's bedroom the pair we're about to give up until Nick spotted a locked door under the stairs.

"Mrs Setsworth." Nick called.

"Yes dear?" the old badger had been so sweet and helpful, Nick felt bad for the way he had barged her out of the way.

"Do you have a key for this?" Nick asked softly.

"Oh no, sorry, that's Simon's office he has the only key."

"Never mind." Nick said with a slight smile on his face. He was going to get to use his lock picking kit, which was a guilty pleasure of his.

He almost had the door open when Judy startled him.  
"Not again." She said. Nick Just shrugged and continued fighting with the lock, firing a cheeky grin at Judy when the door popped open. Nick pushed the door open and to his surprise a staircase lead down into the cellar. He was expecting an under stairs cupboard not a whole new floor to search. He poked his head into the darkness before pulling back. "Ladies first."

Judy padded past Nick sticking her tongue out at him as she went by. "You call yourself a predator? Scared of an old woman's basement."

"Hey, plenty of terrible things go on in old peoples' basements. Like clown dolls and clown pictures and, well, clowns." Nick jokingly shuddered before pulling the cord to turn the basement lights on and followed Judy down the stairs.

The basement walls were covered floor to ceiling in shelves, Scratcher books covering every inch of wall space. In the back corner of the room in a cut-out section of shelving was a computer, one of them old ones with the monitor that a family could live in.  
"It's a scratchers paradise." Nick said taking in the sheer number of books.

Judy hopped up onto the chair by the computer and wiggled the mouse.  
"Bingo." The computer wasn't even locked, and the last web page was still open. The website was called 'Scratcher Jack forums' Judy immediately dove into Simon's messages, one of the usernames kept cropping up 'ScratcherFan666' the user was asking Simon very detailed questions about the murders and Simon was giving very detailed answers.

"Nick" Judy called. "Get a load of this." Nick came over and instantly noticed the username but he spotted something Judy had missed. All of the last messages were sent roughly an hour before the bodies were found.

"That's him, that's our killer." Nick said excitedly. he tapped his claw on the monitor. "See what IT can do on tracking that user. We need to speak to Simon again." Nick ran up the stairs to phone it in.

* * *

12:00, 9 hours until the final murder.

* * *

Nick and Judy were on their way back to the station when Nicks phone rang.  
"Dave what's up?" he said as soon as he answered the phone.

"Hey Nick, we've had a DNA report in about some eyeballs or something." Dave said with uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah go on."

"Well they found another mammals DNA on each victim but the samples all got contaminated, so they can't get anything conclusive."

Nick growled to himself, he wanted a more detailed answer but knew that Dave wouldn't know anymore than he had already told him.  
"Thanks Dave. Will you put Simon in an interview room? we're on our way back and need to speak to him."

"Sure thing Red. see you soon." Dave hung up before nick could get another word in.

Nick turned to Judy. "Eyeball DNA was contaminated."

Judy's ears flopped "Your kidding? all of it?"

"Every sample." Nick confirmed.

Judy slammed her fist onto the steering wheel. "Damn, I was certain we would get something from that, let's hope this 'ScratcherFan' thing gets us somewhere."

* * *

16:23, 4 hours 37 minutes until the final murder.

* * *

"So Simon what can you tell us about ScratcherFan666?" Judy asked across the interview table.

"H-he, I met him on a forum, he said that he loved my book and wanted to know more." Simon replied Carelessly. Nick Picked up a screen-shot of Simon's messages that IT had pulled from his computer. The IT department were renowned for being the slowest mammals in the station and they were still working on Simon's computer.

"He slit the stomach from top to bottom, removing the knife just above the pelvis, then he sliced around and removed the liver before tying her to the castle gates and pinning a note to her chest by driving a knife through her heart." Nick read the last message that Simon had sent to ScratcherFan without an ounce of emotion in his voice. "This isn't education, this is murder porn." Nick hissed.

"This… ScratcherFan, Do you know him?" Judy asked leaning on the table.

"just through the forums, most mammals hide their real names." Simon replied.

Nick couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "So you know nothing about these mammals yet you share how to butcher women with them?"

Simon went on the defensive. "That information is all publicly available, what they choose to do with it is up to them."

Nick had more questions he wanted to ask but Dave burst into the room.  
"IT have traced the IP address to a house in town. Bogo's trying to get a warrant pushed through now." He said through rushed breaths. Nick and Judy both turned in surprise their ears standing straight up.

"Interview terminated 16:28." Judy slammed the tape recorder off and shot out of the room.

"We'll be back." Nick hissed at Simon as he stood to leave.

* * *

20:18, 42 minutes to the murder.

* * *

The warrant had taken hours to go through, which was amazing really considering it normally took days. The whole team were stood outside of a house on Stanley Gardens which was 2 streets away from the car park where the original murder happened. Judy's heart was racing, and she could hear Nick's doing the same. Dave was stood by the door with the battering ram in his paws. He counted to 3 and smashed the door in. The team rushed around him into the hallway of the house. "Police, stay where you are." They all shouted together, but the house was deserted with a computer screen illuminating the back room. There was a pin board beside it with a town map pinned on. All of the murder locations were highlighted apart from the last one. Instead a circle surrounded the car park with a question mark in the middle. Judy was inspecting the map and searching the computer desk when she heard Ben's voice form upstairs.

"Skip, up here." He called.

Judy bounced up the stairs. Ben was holding a Ukrainian passport in his paw, Judy snatched it from him and dropped it moments later as she ran down and out of the front door. The passport landed face up on the landing, the face of a large grey wolf jumping out at whoever looked at it.

Judy fumbled in her pocket trying to get her phone out, she furiously tapped a number in.  
"Come on, come on, answer the bloody phone." she said, her teeth clenched so tight that her jaw hurt. Finally, the phone was answered.

"Hey Judes. what's up?" The voice at the other end said.

"Julie where are you? is anybody with you?" Judy's voice was rushed and filled with panic.

"I'm at home cooking, Judy what's going on?"

"Are you alone?" Judy asked quickly, her heart was beating faster than she thought possible.

"No, Josephs came round for supper. sorry Judy I have to go."

"Julie wait!" Judy shouted but it was too late, the line was already dead.  
"Shit, shit, shit." Judy spun around helplessly looking for Nick. She was a little dizzy when he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.  
"Judy, what's happened?"

the whole team had come out and were looking at her in confusion.  
"Julie, where does she live?" Judy said, sheer terror in her voice.

"flat 46 Millers walk. Why?"

Judy shot off to her car and Nick instinctively followed. Judy's foot slammed onto the accelerator and they sped away before Nick had managed to close the car door. "Jesus Judy, what on earth is going on?" Nick squeaked, bracing himself against the dashboard and gripping tightly on the overhead handle as Judy sped through the narrow streets.  
"Josephs the killer and he's in her flat." 

* * *

20:48, 12 minutes left.

* * *

Judy rattled the door to the main entrance of the Millers Walk tower block, but it was locked.

"Watch out." Nick said, pulling his baton form his belt using the metal base of it to smash the glass window beside the door before scurrying through the gap. The pair sprinted up the stairs to the 4th floor and frantically searched for flat 46.

"We should split up and cover more ground." Judy said when they came to a T junction in the corridor.

"Not a chance, you think I'm gonna let you face a killer on your own."

"bu…"

Nick crouched in front of her and flattened her ears with his paw. "No way Judy, we're in this together. Now let's move." Nick looked at his watch 20:53 they had 7 minutes maybe less to find the flat and stop Joseph.

"There." Judy shouted and bounded off down the corridor with Nick close behind.

"Carrots, MOVE!" Judy jumped back and Nick slammed his shoulder into the door of flat 46, stumbling into the room. Nick almost fell, but he didn't have time to get his bearings. Joseph was stood in the middle of the room with surgical gloves and scrubs on like he was ready to operate, the knife in his hand was clean, they had got there just in time.

Nick pounced at Joseph and clung to the wolfs back in an effort to floor him, but it was no use. Seconds later he slammed into the arm of the living room sofa the wind rushing out of him. Nick managed to look up and see Judy's powerful foot connect with Josephs muzzle the crack making Nick flinch. Joseph stumbled back and Judy fell to the floor, but she didn't get up. 'don't stop now Carrots we've almost got him.' Nick thought until he heard the sinister laugh from the wolf. Nick looked on in horror at the now bloodied knife in the wolfs paw. Nick threw his baton at Joseph without thinking, it missed smashing a vase on a shelf behind him. Nick leapt towards him, but Joseph ran out of the flat and disappeared into the corridor.

"Judy" Nick wailed. He flopped down next to his bunny and scooped her into his arms. A red stain forming around a rip in her shirt just below her stab vest.

"NO, NO, Judy." Nick strained.

"Check on Julie." Judy winced at the pain when she tried to wriggle free from Nicks arms. Nick laid her down carefully and ran into the bedroom. Julie was cowering behind the bed. She was shaken but unharmed.

"She's ok." Nick shouted.  
"Judy?" No reply came. Nick flew back into the living room and was quickly back at Judy's side. He scooped her back into his arms, but she was unconscious and her breathing was becoming strained.

Nick fumbled for his radio. "Officer down, 46 millers walk, I repeat Hopps is down." Nick's worst nightmare was just becoming reality, he had just had to call for medical assistance for his partner, his friend, his Judy. A tear rolled down Nick's face as he stroked Judy's ears back. "Come on Judy, wake up. Please wake up, I-I need you."

* * *

21:05 outside Millers Walk.

* * *

Nick was sat in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around him, he hadn't been allowed to travel with Judy because he wasn't family.

Dave approached cautiously. "Nick, I thought you should know… we caught him… he ran right into Bogo's hooves." Nick didn't respond he just stared blankly into nothingness, the sound of Dave's voice and all of the sirens blaring around him fading into nothing. For all he knew his world had just fallen apart.

* * *

26th September, early morning.

* * *

6 months had passed since the scratcher murders. Nick was crouched in front of a marble headstone in the town cemetery with tears welling in his eyes. He silently placed a green and purple bouquet on the grave and brushed away a few fallen leaves with the back of his paw.

"I remembered your favourites." He stuttered through silent sobs. The warmth of a friendly paw on his shoulder taking an ounce of pain away.

"I miss her so much. It's like there's a hole that only one mammal could fill." Nick said tenderly.

The paw on his shoulder tightened "I know you miss her, but you don't have to go through this alone."

"I really appreciate you coming Dave, you meant a lot to her." Nick said as he stood, a tear rolling down his muzzle.

"Come on skip, she wouldn't want you getting all upset now would she."

"Your right. come on, let's go." Nick and Dave walked off towards Nick's car, which was parked at the cemetery gates.

Nick opened the driver's door and climbed in.  
"you alright foxy?" a voice called from the passenger seat.

"yeah I Just can't believe it's been a whole year since…" Nicks voice trailed off.

"hey, we're all here for you." The grey doe planted a kiss on Nicks muzzle, flinching in pain as she sat back in the seat.

"stab wound still a bit raw fluff?"

"I think it's always gonna be raw." Judy said rubbing at her side.  
Nick started the car and went to put it in first, Judy's paw met his on the gear stick.

"Hey Nick."

"yeah Carrots."

"Your Mom would be proud of you."


End file.
